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Epochs of History 

EDITED BY 

EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A. 



THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK 



JAMES GAIRDNER. 



JFRANCE AT THE DEATH OF EDWARD III. 




Boundary of ) n ij' 

English Territory as settled by V p' j"* Do. at death of Sdward III Red 

I /le Treaty of Bretigni, 1360. ) " 

Note, 

The treaty of Bretigny was made in 1360 between Edward III. and King John of 
France. After it Edward lost the actual possession of nearly the whole South of France, 
hut he never gave up his pretensions to the Sovereignty of Guienne and Gascony. 



THE HOUSES^ 



OF 



Lancaster and York 



WITH THE 



CONQUEST AND LOSS OF FRANCE 



■)- 



BY 



\ ^ JAMES GAIRDNER 



BDITOR OF "the PASTON LETTERS" BTC. 



WITH FIVE MAPS 



NEW YOEK: 
CHAELES SCKIBNER'S SONS, 
1886. 









M IW 



PREFACE. 



For the period of English history treated in this 
volume, we are fortunate in possessing an unrivalled 
interpreter in our great dramatic poet, Shakspeare. 
A regular sequence of historical plays exhibit to us 
not only the general cnaracter of each successive 
reign, but nearly the whole chain of leading events, 
from the days of Richard II. to the death of Richard 
III. at Sosworth. Following the guidance of such a 
master mind, we realize for ourselves the men and 
actions of the period in a way we cannot do in any 
other epoch. And this is the more important, as the 
age itself, especially towards the close, is one of the 
most obscure in English history. During the period 
of the Wars of the Roses, we have, comparatively 
speaking, very few contemporary narratives of what 
took place, and anything like a general history of the 
times was not written till a much later date. But the 
doings of that stormy age — the sad calamities endured 
by kings — the sudden changes of fortune in great men 



vi Preface. 

— the glitter of chivalry and the horrors of civil war, 
— all left a deep impression upon the mind of the 
nation, which was kept alive by vivid traditions of 
the past at the time that our great dramatist wrote. 
Hence, notwithstanding the scantiness of records 
and the meagerness of ancient chronicles, we have 
singularly, little difficulty in understanding the spirit 
and character of the times. 

Shakspeare, however, made ample use besides, of 
whatever information he could obtain from written 
histories. And there were two works to which he 
was mainly indebted, which deserve to be read more 
generally than they are at the present day — the 
Chronicles, namely, of Hall and Holinshed. Hall's 
Chronicle was written in the reign of Henry VIII., 
and gives a complete account of the whole sequence 
of events from the last days of King Richard II. to 
the time in which the author wrote. The title of the 
work prefixed to it by himself, or possibly by his 
printer, Grafton, who completed it, was " The Union 
of the Two Noble and Illustrate Families of Lancastre 
and Yorke."^ This expresses exactly the general 
scope of the book, which traces out very clearly the 

1 The full title is as follows : — " The Union of the two Noble and 
Illustrate Families of Lancaster and York being long in continual 
dissension for the crown of this noble realm, with all the acts done 
in both the times of the Princes, both of the one lineage and of the 



Preface. vii 

story of each separate reign, first of the one family 
and afterwards of the other, winding up with a narra- 
tive of the reign of Henry VIII. , in whom the blood 
of both Houses was mingled. The style of Hall, 
though antiquated, is remarkably clear, graphic, and 
interesting. The headings that he has prefixed to 
the several reigns are in themselves no small help to 
the student to remember their general charac er. 
The book is divided into the following chapters ; — 

" An Introduction into the Division of the Two Houses of 
Lancaster and York. 

" I. The Unquiet Time of King Henry the Fourth. 
" n. The Victorious Acts of King Henry the Fifth. 
"in. The Troublous Season of King Henry the Sixth. 
" IV. The Prosperous Reign of King Edward the Fourth. 
" V. The Pitiful Life of King Edward the Fifth. 
'' VI. The Tragical Doings of King Richard the Third. 
" VII. The Politic Governance of King Henry the Seventh, 
" VIII. The Triumphant Reign of King Henry the Eighth." 

This table of contents is quite a history in little. 
The feeling with which Hall wrote is that of a 
man living under a *' triumphant " king who, after a 
century of disorder and civil war occasioned by a 
disputed succession, had succeeded peacefully to the 
crown, uniting the claims of the two rival families in 



other, beginning at the time of King Herry the Fourth, the 
first author of this division, and so successively proceeding to the 
reign of the high and prudent prince King Henry the Eighth, the 
indubitate flower and very heir of both the said lineages." 



viii Preface, 

his own person and raising his country in the estima" 
tion of the whole world by his kingly valor. From 
the happy and prosperous days of Henry VIII., — for 
such they were upon the whole, especially the early 
part of the reign, when Hall wrote — he looked back 
with the eye of an historian upon that epoch of 
tragedy and confusion, and carefully collected all 
that he could find relating to it. In the beginning 
of the work he gives a list of the authorities he had 
consulted, among which there are one or two that 
cannot at this day be identified, and perhaps may 
not be now extant. 

On the whole, those who desire to obtain a clear 
impression of the history of this period cannot do 
better than read the Chronicle of Hall, of which it 
is greatly to be desired that some more handy and 
convenient edition were published for general use. 
It is, however, for the most part accessible in public 
libraries, either in the original black-letter edition 
or in that of Sir Henry Ellis* 

The later Chronicles of Stow and Holinshed, pub- 
lished during the latter part of the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, add many important particulars not to be 
found in Hall. John Stow was a most industrious 
antiquary, who spent the greater portion of his life 
in collecting and taking notes from MSS., and in 



Preface. ix 

his Chronicle, or, as he himself calls it, his "An- 
nals," he gives the fruit of his gleanings, not in a 
connected narrative but in a record of events from 
year to year, as the name of the work implies. The 
work of Holinshed, on the other hand, is called on 
the title-page a Chronicle, but is, in fact, a regular 
history, embodying the substance of Hall's narrative, 
sometimes nearly in the words of the earlier writer, 
with a great deal that is contained In Stow and a 
large amount of additional information from other 
sources; 

Modern writers have not improved upon these 
admirable works in extent or fulness of information, 
though they have undoubtedly brought criticisms to 
bear on many points of detail. Of popular histories 
written in recent times, Lingard's is upon the whole 
the most careful and trustworthy ; but any one de- 
siring really to study the period can only refer to 
such works as a help to rectify and to test the accu- 
racy of his own judgments after saturating his mind 
with the perusal of earlier authorities. Those who 
have not an opportunity of referring to Hall or 
Holinshed, would do well ^not to take their whole 
view of the history from any one historian, however 
accurate he may be, but to jot down the simple facts 
for themselves, comparing one writer with another 



X Preface, 

to ensure accuracy, and from them form their own 
conclusions. 

If, however, it be desired to examine the original 
sources from which information about the period is 
obtained, the student must of course go to earlier 
writings even than Hall's Chronicle. He must 
examine the authorities used by Hall himself, and a 
number of other chronicles and narratives besides, 
many of which have been only published in compara- 
tively recent times. Of these works it would be un- 
necessary here to give a list j but it is right to say 
that the present volume has been written from a 
direct study of all the contemporary testimony that 
exists relative to the events of each particular reign. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PRELIMINARY. 



PAGB 
I 



CHAPTER II. 

RICHARD II. 

1 The French War— Wycliffe and John of Gaunt 
IL Wat Tyler's Rebellion .... 

IIL The Crusade in Flanders. Invasion of Scotland 

The King's Favorites .... 
IV. Revolution and Counter-Revolution . 
V. The Struggle Continued. The Wonderful Parlia' 
ment — The King of age . . . 
VI. The King and the Duke of Gloucester 
VII. The Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk * 
VIII. The King and Henry of Lancaster • . 

CHAPTER III. 

LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 



4 

12 

20 
26 

51 

39 
44 
SO 



62 



CHAPTER IV. 
kenr:y IV. 

I. The Revolution Completed. Invasion of Scotland . 67 

II. Eastern Affairs , . 72 

IIL Owen Glendower's Rebellion and the Battle of 

Shrewsbury ........ f6 

IV. Capture of Prince James of Scotland ... 81 

V. The Church. French Affairs. Death of Henry IV. 85 

xi 



xii Contents. 

CHAPTER V. 

HENRY V. PAGB 

I. Oldcastle and the Lollards 90 

II. The War with France and the Battle of Agincourt . 96 

III. The Emperor Sigismund. Henry Invades France a 

Second Time. The Foul Raid. Execution of 
Oldcastle 104 

IV. Siege and Capture of Rouen. Murder of the Duke 

of Burgundy. Treaty of Troyes .... 108 
V, Henry's Third Invasion of France. His Death • 114 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE AND THE WAR IN BOHEMIA . II8 

CHAPTER Vn. 

Henry vi. 

I. The Ring's Minority and the French Wa.r . .128 

tl. The Siege of Orleans. Joan of Arc .... 132 

III. Gloucester and Beaufort. Negotiations for Peace . 140 

IV. The King's Marriage. Deaths of Gloucester and 

Beaufort I46 

V. Loss of Normandy. Fall of the Duke of Suffolk . 150 

VI. Jack Cade's Rebellion. Loss of GuienneandGascony 155 

vn. The King's Illness. Civil War 161 

VIII. The Duke of York's Claim. His Death. Henry 

Deposed 167 

CHAPTER Vni. 

EDWARD IV. 

I. Triumph of the House of Yotk 173 

II. Edward's Marriage. Louis Xl. . . . , 178 

III. The Burgundian Alliance. Warwick's Intrigues . 183 

IV. Edward driven out, and Henry VI. Restored . . 188 

V. Return of King Edward 192 



Contents. xiii 

PAGE 

VI. War with France ..••••. 198 

VII. France and Burgundy 200 

VIII. t ate of Clarence. The Scotch War, Death of Edward 203 



CHAPTER IX. 

EDWARD V 209 

CHAPTER X. 

RICHARD III. 

I. The Royal Progress. Murder of the Princes . .218 

II. The Rebellion of Buckingham 222 

III. Second Invasion of Richmond. Richard's Overthrow 

and Death 227 

CHAPTER XI. 

GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. . 236 

CHAPTER XII. 

CJONCLUSJON. . , D £5C 



LIST OF MAPS. 



I. France at the Death of Edward III. 

Opposite Title-page 

II. Extent of the English Conquests in 

France To face page i \-^ 

III. Henry V.'s First Campaign in France " loo ^ 

IV. England during the Wars of the 

Roses « 5/2 \ 

V. Europe in the Fifteenth Century " 250 



THE HOUSES 



OF 



LANCASTER AND YORK. 



CHAPTER I. 

PRELIMINARY. 

The reign of Edward III. may be considered the climax 
of mediaeval civilization and of England's early great- 
ness. It is the age in which chivalry ^g^ ^f g^- 
attained its highest perfection. It is the "^^^^ ^^^• 
period of the most brilliant achievements in war, and of 
the greatest development of arts and commerce before 
the Reformation. It was succeeded by an age of decay 
and disorder, in the midst of which, for one brief interval, 
the glories of the days of King Edward were renewed ; 
for the rest, all was sedition, anarchy, and civil war. 
Two different branches of the royal family set up rival 
pretensions to the throne ; and the struggle, as it went 
on, engendered acts of violence and ferocity which de- 
stroyed all faith in the stability of government. 

2. Even in Edward's own days the tide had begun to 
turn. Of the lands he had won in France, Loss of French 
and even of those he had inherited in that conquests. 
country, nearly all had been lost. Calais, Bordeaux, 
Bayonne, and a few other places still remained; but 
B 



* o 




j-out 
iholder 



2 Preliminary. CH. i. 

Gascony had revolted, and a declaration of war had 
been received in England from Charles V., the son of 
that king of France who had been taken prisoner at 
Poitiers. Edward found it impossible in his declining 
years to maintain his old military renown. His illus- 
trious son, the Black Prince, only tarnished his glory 
by the massacre of Limoges. Even if England had 
still possessed the warriors who had helped to win her 
earlier victories, success could not always be hoped for 
from that daring policy which had been wont to risk 
everything in a single battle. The French, too, had 
learned caution, and would no longer allow the issue to 
be so determined. They suffered John of Gaunt to march 
through the very heart of their country from Calais to 
Bordeaux, only harassing his progress with petty skir- 
mishes, and leaving hunger to do its work upon the in- 
vading army. England was exhausted and had to be 
content with failure. During the last two years of 
Edward's reign there was a truce, which expired three 
months before his death. But no attempt was made to 
do more than stand on the defensive. 

3. In domestic matters a still more melancholy re- 
action had taken place. The great King had become 
^ ^ .,. . weak, and the depravity from which he and 

Imbecility of . 

Edward in his his people had emancipated themselves at 
years. ^^ beginning of his reign reappeared at the 
close in a form almost as painful. Alice Ferrers ruled 
the King and sat beside the judges, corrupting tjie 
administration of the law. In the King's imbecility his 
sons conducted the government, and chiefly John of 
Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, whose elder brother the Black 
Prince had, for the most part, withdrawn from public life, 
owing to his shattered health. But just before his death 
in 1376, the latter, conscious of the corrupt state of the 



1377* Preliminary, 3 

whole administration, srave his countenance , _, ^ , 

° ♦ The Good 

to what was called 'the Good Parliament,' Parliament.' 
in attacking the principal abuses. They impeached, 
fined, and imprisoned various offenders who had been 
guilty of extortion as farmers of the revenue, or of 
receiving bribes for the surrender of fortresses to the 
enemy ; then, aiming higher still, not only ventured to 
complain of Alice Ferrers, but compelled the King to 
banish her from his presence. Unfortunately, the good 
influence did not last. On the death of the Black Prince 
everything was again undone. Alice Perrers returned to 
the King. The Speaker of ' the Good Parliament ' was 
thrown into prison. John of Gaunt returned to power 
and brought charges against William of Wykeham, 
bishop of Winchester, once the all-powerful minister of 
Edward III., in consequence of which he was dismissed 
from the Chancellorship, and ordered to keep at a dis- 
tance from the court, while the men who had been cen- 
sured and condemned by Parliament were released from 
their confinement. 

4. One act, however, the Good Parliament accom- 
plished which was not to be undone. Immediately ou 
the death of the Black Prince the Commons Richard 
petitioned that his son Richard might be 1^"^^^^^ 
publicly recognized as heir to the throne. Prince, re- 
The significance of this act is not at once heir to the 
apparent to us who are accustomed to a '^'■°^"- 
fixed succession. But the days were not then so very 
remote when it had been not unusual to set aside the 
direct line of the succession, either to avoid a minority 
or for some other reason ; and it might have been ques- 
tioned still whether the right of a younger son, like John 
of Gaunt, was not preferable to that of a grandson, like 
young Richard. In this case, however, the general feel- 



4 Richard II. ch. ii. 

ing was marked and unmistakable. The great popu- 
larity of the Black Prince made the nation desire the 
succession of his son ; and the unpopularity of John of 
Gaunt strengthened that desire still further. Hence it 
was that on the death of Edward III. his grandson 
Richard succeeded quietly to the throne. 



CHAPTER II. 



RICHARD II. 

I. The French War. — Wy cliff e and John of Gaunt. 

I. It was just twelve months after the death of the Black 
Prince that his father, King Edward III., died at Sheen. 
^ jj According to what had been determined in 

June 21. Parliament, Richard was immediately re- 

cognized as king. He was at this time only eleven years 
Accession of ^Id, and could not be expected to discharge 
Richard. ^^e actual functions of government for many 

years to come. The utmost that could have been hoped 
under circumstances so disadvantageous was that he 
might have been placed under such tuition as would 
have taught him to exercise his high powers with vigor 
and discretion when he came of age. But even of this 
the state of parties afforded very little prospect. His 
eldest uncle, John of Gaunt, was so generally disliked 
that his influence would not have been tolerated, and no 
one else had any claim to be his political instructor. No 
attempt was made to form a Regency or to appoint a 
Protector during the minority. The young King was 
crowned within a month after his accession, and was in- 
vested at once with the full rights of sovereignty. All 



1377' "^^^ Fi'ench War. 5 

parties agreed to support his authority, and seemed anx- 
ious to lay aside those jealousies which had disturbed the 
latter days of the preceding reign. John of Gaunt and 
William of Wykeham were made friends ; and the city 
of London, which had been much opposed to the for- 
mer, was assured both of his and of the new King's 
good will. 

2. It was, indeed, a very proper time to put away 
dissensions, for the French were at that moment harass- 
ing the coasts. A week after King Edward's death they 
burned Rye. A little later they levied contributions in 
the Isle of Wight, attacked Winchelsea, and ^j^^ French 
set fire to Hastings. About the same time ^^^"^ ^y^- 
the Scots were busy in the North, and burned the town 
of Roxburgh. These and a number of other misfortunes 
were due mainly to the weakness of the government. 

3. A Parliament, however, presently assembled at 
London, composed mainly of the same persons as the 
Good Parliament of 1 376. In this Parliament 

-. . -, -, r • ■, Parliament. 

a subsidy was voted for carrymg on the war ; 
but to prevent a repetition of old abuses, the control of 
the money was placed entirely in the hands of two lead- 
ing citizens of London, who were charged not to allow 
it to be diverted from the use for which it was intended. 
The names of these two citizens were William Walworth 
and John Philipot ; and they deserve to be noted here as 
we shall meet with each of them again in connection 
with other matters. 

4. About the end of the year there arrived in England 
certain bulls — not the first that had been issued by the 
Pope to denounce his teaching — against John 
WycHffe, a famous theologian at Oxford, ^^' ^" 
whose tenets, both political and religious, had created no 
small stir. Wycliffe denied that the Pope, or any one 



6 Richard II. ch. ii. 

but Christ, ought to be called Head of the Church. He 
treated as a fiction that primacy among the Apostles 
which the Church of Rome had always claimed for St. 
Peter. He maintained that the power of kings was su- 
perior to that of the Pope, and that it was lawful to ap- 
peal from the sentence of a bishop to a secular tribunal. 
It was one of his cardinal principles that dominion was 
founded on grace, and that any one who held authority, 
either temporal or spiritual, was divested of his power by 
God whenever he abused it, so that it then became not 
only lawful but right to disobey him. This teaching 
shook to its foundation the view commonly entertained 
of the relations of Church and State, but it recommended 
itself in many ways to no small section of the nation. 
As early as the year 1 366 it had become of value to the 
Court ; for the Pope had revived the claim made by the 
See of Rome for tribute in the days of King John, and 
while the papal pretensions were repudiated by the Par- 
liament at Westminster, Wycliffe defended in the schools 
of Oxford the decision come to by the legislature. 

5. In truth the authority of the Pope had not been 
strengthened in the estimation of Englishmen since the 
days when that tribute had been submitted to, especially 
not in the days of Wycliffe. For nearly sixty years the 
Papal See had been removed from Rome to Avignon, 
and in matters of international concern the Pope was 
looked upon as a partisan of the French king. Of the 
The Popes six Popes who had reigned at Avignon, 
at Avignon. every one had been a native either of Gas- 
cony or of the Limousin. The exactions of the Papal 
Court rendered it still more odious. The See of Rome 
had gradually usurped the right of presentation to bish- 
oprics and prebends, and received the first-fruits of each 
new-filled benefice, of which it endeavored to make the 



1377- Wycliffe. 7 

utmost by frequent translations. At "the sinful city of 
Avignon," as it was called by the Good Parliament, there 
lived a set of brokers who purchased benefices and let 
them to farm for absentees. Thus a number of the most 
valuable preferments were absorbed by Cardinals and 
other foreigners residing at the Papal Court. And worse 
than all, the revenues of the English Church went fre- 
quently to support the enemies of England. For the 
Pope claimed a general right of taxing benefices, and 
when he required money for his wars in Lombardy, or to 
ransom French prisoners taken by the English, he could 
always demand a subsidy of the English clergy. The 
bishops did not dare to resist the demand, however little 
they might approve the object. In this way the Pope 
drew from the possessions of the Church in England five 
times the amount the King received from the whole 
taxation of the kingdom. And while all this wealth was 
withdrawn from the country, and some of it applied in a 
manner opposed to the country's interest, the people 
were so ground down with taxation that they were unable 
to provide effectively for defence against a foreign enemy. 
Statesmen therefore desired the opinion of divines 
whether England might not lawfully, as a Christian 
nation, refuse to part with her treasures to the See of 
Rome. Wycliffe had no doubt upon the subject. He 
declared that every community had a right to protect 
itself, and that it might detain its treasure for that pur- 
pose whenever necessity required ; moreover, that on 
Gospel principles the Pope had no right to anything at 
all, except in the way of alms and free-will offerings of 
the faithful. 

6. Unselfish as his aim undoubtedly was, it was only 
natural that doctrines such as these should have recom- 
mended Wycliffe to the favor of the great. Even in the 



8 Richard II. ch. ii. 

days of Edward III. he was a royal chaplain ; and in 
the very first year of Richard II. his advice was asked 
by the King's council upon the question just referred to. 
On the other hand, he was naturally looked upon by 
churchmen as a traitor to the principles and constitution 
of the Church ; nor could he hope to escape their ven- 
geance except by the protection of powerful laymen. In 
this respect the friendship of John of Gaunt was of most 
signal use to him ; and it was shown in an especial man- 
ner not long before the death of Edward III. On that 
occasion Wycliffe had been cited before the Archbishop 
of Canterbury and the Bishop of London at St. Paul's ; 
and the Duke of Lancaster not only took his part, but 
befriended him so warmly as to let fall some offensive 
expressions against the Bishop of London. But he had 
very soon cause to repent the indiscretion. The Lon- 
doners resented either the affront to their bishop or the 
stretch of authority on the duke's part in protecting a 
heretic, and it was only at the bishop's own intercession 
that they refrained from attacking the duke himself or 
setting fire to his palace of the Savoy. 

7. The incident was characteristic of John of Gaunt, 
a man whose inward endowments, either of 
Gaunt! virtue or discretion, by no means corre- 

sponded with his artificial greatness. Al- 
though only the fourth son of King Edward III., he was 
the eldest that survived his father, and had, as we have 
already shown, taken the lead in public affairs even 
during his father's latter days. On the day that Edward 
attained the age of fifty, he and an elder brother Lionel 
were raised by the King to the dignity of dukes — a title 
unknown in England till the beginning of his reign ; and 
having 'married the daughter of a nobleman, then de-. 
ceased, who had been created Duke of Lancaster, he 



1377' John of Gaunt, 9 

was made Duke of Lancaster himself. On the death of 
his elder brother Lionel, who had been made Duke of 
Clarence, John of Gaunt was left the only duke in Eng- 
land, and when the Black Prince also died, he was the 
greatest subject in the realm. But his ambition had not 
been satisfied even with the great pre-eminence of a 
dukedom ; for, having taken as his wife in second mar- 
riage, Constance, the eldest daughter of Peter the Cruel 
of Castile, he assumed the title of King of Castile. The 
claim was utterly futile, and served only to exasperate 
both France and Spain against England. For Henry 
of Trastamara, the illegitimate brother of Peter the Cruel, 
against whose pretensions the Black Prince had won for 
Peter in Spain the battle of Navarrete, had been since 
firmly established on the throne by the aid of the King 
of France. Moreover, at that very time the affairs of 
England in France were in a most critical condition ; 
yet John of. Gaunt, whom his brother the Black Prince 
had left to defend Aquitaine a year before, returned to 
England with his newly married wife and empty title 
just when his presence was most specially wanted in the 
south of France. After he was gone the English arms 
experienced a series of reverses ending in the complete 
loss of Aquitaitie, and a new invasion of France, which 
he undertook in order to retrieve these disasters, was 
even more unfortunate. 

8. Altogether, he had shown little evidence of either 
military or political capacity ; and yet at the commence- 
ment of his young nephew's reign his influence was so 
great by the mere fact of his relation to the King, that 
everything was at his disposal. It was in vain even that 
Parliament had committed to Walworth 

A "D I'^tS. 

and Philipot the control of the war expen- 
diture. The Duke of Lancaster requested that the 



lO 



Richard 11. CH. ii. 



money granted by Parliament should be placed in his 
hands, that he might fit out a fleet and drive the enemy 
from the shores of England. The Lords of the Council, 
though with great misgivings, felt it necessary to com- 
ply. They had little confidence in the duke, but durst 
not go against his will. Their distrust was justified by 
the result. The duke was very tardy in his prepara- 
tions. The fleet at length sailed without him, was en- 
countered by the Spaniards and was defeated. The 
commercial classes seemed to have felt that they must 
see to the protection of their own interests themselves, 
for English shipping was exposed to the attacks of vari- 
ous enemies. John Mercer, a Scotch captain, who was 
a man of considerable influence with the French king, 
had been taken at sea by some Northumbrian sailors 
and committed to the castle of Scarborough. His son, 
with the aid of a small force consisting of Frenchmen, 
Scots, and Spaniards, suddenly entered the port of Scar- 
borough and carried off a number of ships. But John 
John Phiii- Philipot fitted out a fleet at his own expense, 
pot. which after a short time fell in with the 

younger Mercer, and not only recovered the ships that 
he had captured but took him and fifteen Spanish ves- 
sels laden with rich booty. 

9. The fame of this achievement made Philipot highly 
popular, and people could not help contrasting it with 
the supineness and inactivity of John of Gaunt. When 
at last the duke set to sea he unfortunately did little to 
retrieve his past mismanagement, but failed again as he 
Siege of St. ^^^ ^^ often done before. He crossed to 
Malo. Brittany, besieged St. Malo, and so terrified 

the inhabitants that at first they were disposed to come 
to terms with him. But the duke insisting on uncondi- 
tional surrender, the citizens held out and the siege was 



1378. The Great Schism. 11 

prolonged, till at length, after losing a number of men, 
the English were compelled ignominiously to withdraw 
and return home. 

10. The war went on for some years languidly, with 
little glory to England. The national disasters, how- 
ever, together with the intolerable burden of taxation 
imposed to avert them, had a most impor- 
tant effect in stimulating Parhament to in- JSresTnt? '''" 
quire into the expenditure, a claim which *^ expen- 
was not yet conceded to them by right, but 
under the circumstances could not be refused. The 
English also were deceived in their expectations of aid 
from the Duke of Brittany against France. John de 
Montfort, Duke of Brittany, had done homage to Ed- 
ward III. for his duchy, and had been assisted by Ed- 
ward against his rival Charles of Blois, supported by the 
King of France. His son John, who was now duke, 
with an undisputed title, had fought side by side with 
the English, and since Richard's accession had been 
placed in command of a portion of the English fleet. 
But he had pursued a double game from the first, and 
being recalled to his duchy, by the earnest entreaties of 
his people he soon afterwards made a treaty with 
France to dismiss the English from his dominion. 

Meanwhile, events had taken place at Rome which 
affected both the political and religious condition of 
every country in Europe. Gregory XL, the last of the 
Popes who reigned at Avignon, had felt it necessary to 
remove to Rome in order to prevent the Romans setting 
up an anti-Pope. At Rome he died the year after his 
removal. Three quarters of the Cardinals in 

1 • • 1 • 11 A. D. 1378. 

the imperial city were French, but another 

French Pope they did not dare elect. Their choice fell 

upon a Neapolitan, the Archbishop of Bari, who assumed 



12 Richard II. CH. ii. 

the title of Urban VI. But shortly afterwards a portion 
of the Cardinals, pretending that the election had not 
been free, caused a new election to be made of Robert 
of Geneva, Cardinal of Cambray, who took the title of 
^, ^ , . Clement VII., and once more set up a Pa- 

The Schism . ^ 

in ihe pal court at Avignon. Such was the begin- 

apacy. ning of what is known in history as the 
Great Schism. While Urban was recognized as Pope 
by England, Germany, and the greater part of Europe, 
Clement was regarded as head of the church by France, 
Spain, Scotland, and Sicily. Religion was mixed up 
with the' political animosities of nations, and crusades 
against the Clementines, as they were called, were pro- 
claimed as if they had been directed against infidels. 
Nor was the breach in the Church repaired until thirty- 
seven years after it began. 

II. Wat Tyler's Rebellion. 

1. In June 1381 there broke out in England the for- 
midable insurrection known as Wat Tyler's rebellion. 

Wat Tyler's '^^^ movement seems to have begun among 

rebellion. |-jjg bondmen of Essex and Kent, but it 

spread at once to the counties of Sussex, Hertford, 

A. D. 1381, Cambridge, Suffolk, and Norfolk. The pea- 

June. santry, armed with bludgeons and rusty 

swords, first occupied the roads by which pilgrims went 

to Canterbury, and made every one swear that he would 

be true to King Richard and not accept a king named 

John. This, of course, was aimed at the government of 

John of Gaunt, who called himself King of Castile, and 

to whom the people attributed every grievance they had 

to complain of. 

2. The principal, or at least the immediate cause of 
offence, arose out of a poll-tax which had been voted in 



1 38 1. Wat Tyler's Rebellion. 13 

the preceding year, in addition to other ^he poll- 
sources of revenue, for the war in Brittany. '^^• 
A poll-tax of fourpence a head had already been levied 
in the year 1377 ; but this time the deficiency in the ex- 
chequer was so great that three times the amount was 
imposed. Every person above fifteen years of age was 
to contribute three groats to the revenue ; but to make 
the burden as equitable as possible, it was enacted that 
the rich should contribute for the poor, no one (except 
beggars, who were exempted) contributing less than one 
groat or more than sixty. When, however, the first 
collection was made, which should have brought in two- 
thirds of the whole amount, it was found not to have 
yielded so much as the former poll-tax. Commissions 
were accordingly issued to inquire in what cases the tax 
had been evaded. 

3. The investigation was one that could not have been 
conducted with too great delicacy ; but the manner in 
which the commissioners discharged their functions was 
offensive beyond measure. Even without very special 
provocation, there was at this time a dangerous spirit 
among the lower orders. The condition of ^ ,. . 

'^ Condition 

the peasantry had for a long time been of the 
steadily improving. The great plague which 
desolated England in the year 1348 had so thinned the 
population that agricultural labor was much less easily 
procurable than it had been before ; and as wages had 
risen about one-half, those compulsory services which 
bondmen were still obliged to render to their lords, such 
as tilling his fields, or carrying in the harvest, were sub- 
mitted to with far less good-will. A feeling had spread 
far and wide that bondage was a thing essentially unjust ; 
and with this grew up an intense hatred of the lawyers 
and of the laws which kept men in subjection. 



14 Richard II. CH. ii. 

4. The commissioners, however, set about their in- 
quiries in a way which was not only calculated to give 
needless offence, but which was in many cases indecent 
and revolting. They soon found the whole peasantry of 
Kent and Essex banded together to withstand them. 
From village to village they mustered in hosts, putting to 
death all lawyers and legal functionaries, and destroying 
the court-rolls of manors which contained the evidences 
of their servile condition. And so in overpowering 
Muster upon numbers they proceeded to Blackheath, 
Biackheath. where they are said to have mustered 
100,000 men. Their leader was a man of Dartford, 
named from his occupation Wat the Tyler, whose 
daughter had been subjected to insulting treatment by 
the commissioners, and who had avenged the indignity 
by cleaving the collector's head with his lathing-staff. 
They had also with them a fanatical priest named John 
Balle, whom they had liberated from Maidstone jail, 
where he had been confined by the Archbishop of Can- 
terbury. This man had been notorious for many years 
for the extravagance of his preaching, in which, how- 
ever he addressed himself to the popular prejudices, and 
seems in part to have adopted the teaching of Wycliffe. 
Letters written by him in a kind of doggerel rhyme were 
dispersed about the country. At Blackheath he addressed 
the multitude in a sermon beginning with what was then 
a popular saying — 

When Adam dalf and Eve span, 
Who was then a gentleman ? 

From which he proceeded to point out the injustice of 
servitude and the natural equality of men. 

5. The appearance and numbers of the insurgents 
were so formidable that the King, although he had gone 
down the river in his barge to meet them and learn their 



1 38 1. Wat Tyler's Rebellion, 15 

demands, was counselled not to land. The multitude 
accordingly passed on through Southwark into London, 
destroying the Marshalsea and King's Bench prisons. 
The lord mayor and aldermen at first resolved to shut 
the gates of the city against them ; but they had so many 
friends v/ithin, that the attempt to do so was in vain. 
When they came in they showed their hostility to John 
of Gaunt by setting fire to his magnificent , 
mansion, the Savoy Palace. They also palace 
burned the Temple and broke open the 
Fleet prison and Newgate, liberating all the prisoners. 
At the same time their motives seem to have been free 
from dishonesty. Strict orders were given against theft, 
and one fellow who was detected purloining a piece of 
plate at the burning of the Savoy, was hurled by his 
comrades into the flames along with the stolen article. 

6. The King had removed for security into the Tower, 
along with his mother the Princess of Wales, once 
popularly known as "the Fair Maid of Kent." Two 
leading members of his council were with him, Simon 
Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was then Lord 
Chancellor, and Sir Robert Hales, Prior of the Knights 
of St. John, who filled the office of Lord Treasurer. To 
the Tower, also, as a place of safety, flocked many of the 
citizens. But as the insurgents so strongly insisted on 
laying their grievances before the King himself, Richard 
agreed to go out and meet them at Mile End, where 
they preferred to him certain requests, of which the prin- 
cipal was for a general abolition of bondage. This and 
their other demands the King felt it necessary to con- 
cede, and a charter was granted accordingly under the 
great seal. The charter was revoked after the insurrec- 
tion was quelled ; but it satisfied the assembly at the 
time, and the men of Essex took their departure home- 



1 6 Richard II. ch. il 

wards. Another party of the insurgents, however, under 
Wat Tyler himself, had at this very time forced an 
entrance into the Tower, and after conducting them- 
selves with the greatest insolence towards the King's 
The Arch- mother and her attendants, dragged out the 
Canterbury Archbishop of Canterbury and Sir Robert 
murdered. Hales, and beheaded them on Tower Hill. 
The garrison within the Tower seem to have been utter- 
ly paralyzed. The irruption of such an unclean and 
disorderly mob into the fortress seems altogether to have 
taken away their courage. At the same time many other 
decapitations took place, both on Tower Hill and in the 
city ; and, as if to show that no restraints would be re- 
garded, men were dragged out of churches and sanctu- 
aries to be beheaded in the public streets. 

7. But though for the time absolute masters of every- 
thing, the triumph of the insurgents was short-lived. 
For the very next day, Wat Tyler had a conference with 
_ , , „, the young King at Smithfield, at which he 

Death of Wat 3 S S 

Tyler. displayed so much insolence that William 

Walworth, who was this year Mayor of London, killed 
him with a blow of his sword. A cry immediately rose 
from the assembled multitude: — "Our captain is slain. 
Let us stand together and revenge his death." Bows 
were bent and arrows were about to be aimed at the 
King and his attendants. But Richard, who was at this 
time only in his fifteenth year, exhibited in the crisis the 
spirit of a true Plantagenet. Putting spurs to his horse 
he rode right into the midst of the rebels, and said to 
them, "What, my friends, would you shoot your king? 
Do not grieve for the death of that traitor. I will be 
your captain and leader. Follow me, and you shall 
have whatever you please to ask." This boldness had a 
marvellous effect. The multitude^ disconcerted, followed 



1 3 8 1 . Wat Tyler' s Rebellion. 1 7 

their young king into the open field. Still, it was doubt- 
ful whether they would kill him, or accept a pardon and 
go home, when fortunately there came from the city a 
band of volunteers, hastily collected under Sir Robert 
Knolles, an experienced captain in the wars of Edward 
III., which surrounded the insurgents and placed the 
King in safety. 

8. This gave a fatal blow to the rebellion in London. 
The insurgents dispersed and went home, and the King 
conferred on William Walworth the honor of knight- 
hood, and land of the value of 100/. But out of London 
there had been at the same time a general commotions in 
rising over all the country, extending even *^^ country, 
to the county of Norfolk, and northwards to the H umber. 
At St. Alban's the bondmen of the monastery committed 
many outrages, demanding emancipation from the 
abbot. In Suffolk the movement was kept up by a 
priest named John Wraw, sent down by Tyler from 
London ; and, as in London, houses were destroyed and 
lawyers everywhere beheaded, including even one of the 
justices. The prior of Bury, too, was put to death, and 
his head stuck upon the pillory. 

9. In Norfolk there was a rising under one John 
Litster, a dyer of Norwich, whose surname, like Tyler's, 
denoted his occupation; for "litster" was old English for 
a dyer. Here the insurgents proposed to take the Earl 
of Suffolk by surprise, and make use of his name as 
their leader ; but the earl, being'warned while he was at 
supper, made his escape and fled in disguise to the King. 
The insurgents, however, compelled one nobleman and 
some knights to go along with them, putting one to 
death who declared plainly his disapproval of their pro- 
ceedings. Litster assumed the title of " king of the com- 
mons," <:ompelled the knights to serve him at table with 

C 



1 8 Richard IT. ch. ii. 

meat and drink, and sent two of them up to London in 
company with three of his men, to obtain for the risers 
charters of manumission and pardon from the King. 
The knights set out, but were met before 
cer of Nor- long by Spenccr, bishop of Norwich, a young 
^^^'^' and warhke prelate, who, having got news 

of the insurrection, was armed to the teeth, with a few 
attendants. The bishop demanded of the knights 
whether they had not some of the traitors in their com- 
pany ; on which the knights delivered up their custo- 
dians, whom the bishop caused at once to be beheaded. 
He then hurried onwards into Norfolk, where the gentry 
flocked to his standard, and defeated the insurgents in a 
regular battle at North Walsham, which put an end to 
the disorders in the county of Norfolk. 

lo. The spirit which animated all of these commotions 
was of a kind that naturally spread the greatest possible 
Spirit of the alarm through all but the lower ranks of 
rebellion. socicty. Nothing like it is to be seen at an 
earlier date, nor even very much later. The rebellion 
of Jack Cade, which occurred nearly seventy years after, 
did not affect a democratic character, or a positive hatred 
of law ; though in this respect Shakespeare has mixed 
up the features of both movements, in describing the 
rebellion of Jack Cade. The insurgents under Wat 
Tyler were, as we have seen, bondmen clamoring for 
emancipation, and journeymen artificers who believed 
in the natural equality of men. The names of their 
leaders bespoke their plebeian origin, which they made 
no effort to disguise. They were Wat the Tyler, and 
Jack Straw, and John Wrawe, with John Litster in Nor- 
folk. These men and their doings are pithily described 
by the contemporary poet Gower, in some Latin verses, 



1382. Wat Tyler's Rebellion. ig 

of which Fuller, the Church historian, gives the follow- 
ing spirited translation : — 

Tom comes thereat, when called by Wat, and Simon as forward 
we find ; 

Bet calls as quick to Gibb and to Hykk, that neither would tarry 
behind. 

Gibb, a good whelp of that litter, doth help mad Coll more mis- 
chief to do. 

And Will he doth vow, the time is come now, he'll join with their 
company too. 

Davie complains, whiles Grigg gets the gains, and Hobb with them 
doth partake, 

Lorkin aloud, in the midst of the crowd, conceiveth as deep is his 
stake. 

Hudde doth spoil whom Judde doth foil, and Tebb lends his help- 
ing hand. 

But Jack, the mad patch, men and houses doth snatch, and kills 
all at his command. 

However they might profess social equality as their 
doctrine, these men practically insisted, not upon 
equality, but on changing places with their masters. In 
this same poem of Gower's, which he called the Vox 
Clamantis, he likened the whole movement to a rising 
of asses that suddenly disdained the curb, and oxen that 
refused the yoke. Changing their natures, they became 
lions and fire-breathing monsters, and forgot entirely 
their original characters. 

II. It was in the beginning of the year following these 
insurrections that the young King, having just attained 
the age of fifteen, married Anne, the sister of 
Wenceslaus VI., king of Bohemia, daugh- ja^ary.^' 
ter of the last Emperor of Germany, Charles 
IV. On the eve of his marriage he granted a general 
amnesty to all but the leading insurgents, which was 



20 Richard II. CH. ii. 

politically set forth as having been con- 
marriagef ^ Ceded at the request of his future queen. At 

the same time strong measures were taken, 
and commissions sent out to repress and punish any 
future movements of the like description, which were 
only too likely to arise from the lenity displayed on this 
occasion. For, in point of fact, the evil influence of the 
rebellion was palpable for many years afterwards. 
Government was unhinged and authority was effectually 
weakened. John of Northampton, the mayor who suc- 
ceeded Walworth, pursued a very different line of policy 
from his predecessor; and the city of London, influ- 
enced by Wyclifife's teaching, usurped episcopal rights 
in dealing with offenders against morality. Two years 
later the same John of Northampton raised factious dis- 
turbances in the city in opposition to another lord mayor, 
and being convicted of sedition before the King, was 
banished into Cornwall. 

III. The Crusade in Flanders — The Invasion of Scot- 
land — The King's Favorites. 

I. At this time a revolution took place in Flanders 
which had a special interest for Englishmen. The peo- 
ple of the Low Countries were always well affected to 
the English, with whom they were united by commer- 
cial interests ; but the Counts of Flanders favored 
France. In the days of Edward III., the Flemings 
under James Van Artevelde, had for some tim.e thrown 
off allegiance to their count and openly allied them- 
selves with England. And now under the 
Artevelde" guidance of Philip Van Artevelde, the son 
of their former leader, they in like manner 
rose against Count Louis II., who was driven out of 



1382. The Crusade in Flanders. 21 

Ghent, first to Bruges and afterwards into France. The 
King of France, Charles VI,, who had succeeded his 
father since Richard came to the throne in England, 
was only a boy ; but his guardian, the Duke of Bur- 
gundy, was son-in-law of Count Louis, and a French 
army, led by the young King himself, soon marched 
into the Netherlands. Artevelde, on the other hand, 
sought the support of England ; and it was so manifestly 
the interest of England to avail itself of Flemish sym- 
pathy against France, that the success of his application 
might almost have been supposed a matter of course. 
The English Council, however, were lukewarm and 
dilatory : and, while Philip Van Artevelde was besieging 
Oudenarde, he found himself obliged to turn aside and 
give battle to the French, unaided by any but his own 
countrymen. The Flemings, though strong in numbers, 
were deficient in cavalry, and were defeated by the 
French in three several engagements, in 
the last of which, the battle of Roosebeke, 
Van Artevelde was slain. 

2. So great a triumph to France — so complete an 
overthrow to allies like the Flemings — created serious 
alarm in England for the safety of Calais. A great 
opportunity had been lost ; but could anything be done 
even now ? The question was anxiously discussed in 
Parliament, and it seemed there was still one effective 
mode of punishing the pride of France. Papal bulls 
had arrived in England authorizing the warlike Bishop 
of Norwich to proclaim a crusade against ^ , . , 

^ . ^ Crusade oi the 

the adherents of the anti-Pope Clement, Bishop of Nor. 
which would enable the English to carry 
on war with their old enemy under the color of religion. 
The project on the whole gave satisfaction ; it received 
the sanction of Parliament, and people came flocking in 



2 2 Richard 11. ch. ii. 

great numbers to the bishop's standard. One point only 
occasioned some little difficulty in point of principle. 
Although the French were Clementists, the Count of 
Flanders and his native followers adhered to Pope 
Urban. But the bishop had engaged beforehand that if 
the religious pretexts would not serve the purposes of 
England, he would furl the banner of the cross and dis- 
play his own. He accordingly crossed over to Calais 
and without even declaration of war suc- 
ceeded in taking possession of Gravelines, 
Dunkirk, and a few places near the sea-coast of Flan- 
ders. But after laying siege unsuccessfully to Ypres he 
found it necessary to withdraw once more to Gravelines, 
surrender the places he had taken, and finally return to 
England after razing Gravelines to the ground. The 
result of the expedition was humiliating enough ; but 
when Parliament met soon after, worse things were dis- 
covered. Money had been received from the enemy for 
the evacuation of Gravelines, and imputations of corrup- 
tion were made against the bishop himself. This was a 
charge from which he succeeded in clearing himself, but 
it was fully proved against several of the captains ; and 
even the bishop did not escape severe censure and pun- 
ishment for his conduct of the expedition. His tem- 
poralities were seized by the King and the offending 
captains were imprisoned. Nevertheless the bishop 
retained the good-will of many who admired his spirit, 
and in their partiality put a more favorable construc- 
tion on his conduct than the facts would fairly warrant. 

3. The King at this time, though still under age, was 
not, strictly speaking, kept in tutelage. He had been 
crowned within a month after the death of his grand- 
father, and with that great act of State the full rights of 
sovereignty had devolved upon him. But the fact that 



1383. The King' s Favorites, 23 

he was without a guardian only kept him more com- 
pletely under the practical control of the Council, who 
were responsible to Parliament. As he grew up, this 
control became more and more distasteful to him, and he 
showed a disposition to seek counsel from men of his 
own choosing. More especially he was impatient of the 
authority and influence claimed by his uncle, John of 
Gaunt, whose ambition was believed to aspire to the 
crown itself. Distrust and suspicions arose between 
uncle and nephew, which the King's mother strove in 
vain to abate. The Duke of Lancaster being summoned 
to a council came with a number of armed men, saying 
that he had been warned of a plot to entrap him. 
Shortly afterwards the King invaded Scot- invasion of 
land with the Duke in his company, laid Scotland. 

^ ■' A. D. 1385. 

waste the country as far as the Forth, and 
burned Edinburgh. Lancaster then advised the King 
to go further and cross the estuary into Fife. The Scots, 
in fact, following their usual policy, had retired before 
the invading army and left even their towns an easy 
prey to the English, who had destroyed and wasted all 
they could, but still could not find their enemy. But the 
Duke of Lancaster's advice was the most impolitic that 
could have been given, and might well have justified 
a suspicion that he was acting treacherously, if it were 
not that he had already in times past given ample evi- 
dence of his utter incompetence as a general. Richard, 
though not himself over-discreet at all times, was too 
;yise to follow the advice. He told his uncle that he 
might conduct his own men where he pleased, but as 
provisions failed them where they were, the royal army 
would certainly return to England. 

4. It was perhaps with a view to counterbalance the 
great authority of John of Gaunt, who was at this time 



24 Richard IL ch. ii. 

The King's ^^ Only duke in England, that Richard now 
uncles. raised his two other uncles, hitherto Earls of 

Cambridge and Buckingham, to the dignity of dukes. 
The former was made Duke of York, the latter Duke of 
Gloucester. The characters of these two brothers were 
very different. Except a sense of responsibility to the 
reigning power, whatever it might be, we fail to see any- 
thing very remarkable in that of the Duke of York. 
But the younger brother, Gloucester, was an active and 
ambitious prince who very soon made his influence felt 
to an extent that John of Gaunt never had done. Rich- 
ard also at the same time bestowed honors and titles on 
two other persons who were invidiously pointed at as 
favorites, and who were believed, justly or unjustly, to 
exercise over him an influence injurious to the general 
weal. 

5. The first of these was Michael de la Pole, not a 
man of noble lineage, but the son of a wealthy merchant 
Michael de la ^^ Hull, who in the days of Edward III. had 
•^°^^- most patriotically lent the King enormous 

sums of money which were never truly repaid him, 
though by Edward's own confession they had been the 
means of averting great national calamities. William 
de la Pole, however, had received grants from the crown 
of various lands and offices, and also the honor of 
knighthood. Michael, his son, had served in the 
French wars under Henry, Duke of Lancaster, and 
more recently under the Black Prince. His merits, 
even as an administrator, were certainly detected long 
before young Richard was of age to recognize them ; 
for in the very first year of the reign he was appointed 
an admiral, and went to sea with John of Gaunt. A 
few years later the care of the King's household was by 
Parliament committed to him and to the Earl of Arun- 



1385. The Kin^ s Favorites, 25 

del. Finally, in 1383, he was appointed Chancellor. 
So far he had risen without any personal help from 
Richard ; and, to all appearance, the integrity of his 
political career fully justified his promotion. But even 
by the probity of his administration he had made some 
enemies, and he had criticised very severely the con- 
duct of the warlike Bishop of Norwich. This was un- 
fortunate, for the bishop was a popular favorite. The 
expedition to Flanders, it was commonly believed, had 
failed only from the selfishness of John of Gaunt and 
the misconduct of others at home. The punishment 
imposed upon the bishop only raised him all the more 
in the esteem of the public, and De la Pole received 
little thanks for having been instrumental to his dis- 
grace. 

6. The other person to whom we have alluded was 
Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, a young man like the 
King himself, and one who owed his posi- T^g ^arl of 
tion at court, not to natural ability like De Oxford. 
la Pole, but to his ancestry. The office of Lord High 
Chamberlain had been hereditary in the family of 
Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford, since the days of 
Henry H. This office brought him near the King's 
person, and whether it was due to mental endowments 
or only to superficial accomplishments Richard showed 
great partiality for his company. Accordingly, when 
the King had promoted in honor his two uncles and 
his Chancellor, he determined that the Earl of Oxford 
should not be passed over. He created him Marquis of 
Dublin — a new dignity, for till now there never had 
been a marquis in England — and the young man, to the 
envy of all the peerage, took precedence of every one 
not of the blood royal. With this honor was accom- 
panied a gift of the whole land of Ireland, which it was 



26 ' Richard 11. ch. ii. 

intended that he should rule and bring into subjection ; 
and next year, to make his title correspond with his 
domain, the King created him Duke of Ireland. 

7. His moral qualities, certainly, did not entitle him 
to so much honor ; for notwithstanding his influence 
over the King, his character was in some things greatly 
inferior to that of Richard himself. Among all the 
charges brought against Richard the purity of his mar- 
ried life has never been assailed. The warmth of his 
domestic affection seems to have preserved him from 
those vices in which kings are but too easily led to in- 
dulge. The Duke of Ireland, on the other hand, as his 
fortunes rose, threw off the restraints both of morality 
and prudence. Although he had married Philippa, 
daughter of Ingram de Coucy, Duke of Bedford, and 
was thus allied to the royal blood, he fell in love with a 
German lady who came over in the Queen's suite. By 
the influence of his position he was enabled to obtain at 
Rome a divorce from his wife, and to marry this lady. 
His own mother, grieved at his conduct, took the 
divorced woman into her house. The Duke of Glou- 
cester was specially indignant at the insult offered to 
the royal family. It exhibited in a most painful light 
the ascendancy gained over the mind of the King by 
mere personal predilection, and the little regard he felt 
for more aged advisers of his own blood and lineage. 
The Duke of Ireland was supposed by some to be the 
absolute governor of the kingdom, and years afterwards 
it was said, though untruly, that the King listened to 
none but young and inexperienced counsellors. 

IV. Revolution and Counter-Rev olution. 

I. If it was disagreeable to Richard to submit to the 
influence of John of Gaunt, he soon found that he could 



1386. Revolution and Counter- Revolution. 27 

be subjected to still greater tyranny when 
that influence was removed. The year af- John of Gaunt 
ter the Scottish campaign the Duke of Lan- ^°^^ ^° ^^'°' 
caster sailed into Spain with a great fleet to make good 
his title to the kingdom of Castile. He was aided by 
the Pope, who, as the Spaniards were Clementists, 
granted indulgences to all who joined the expedition, 
and he did not return to England till three years after. 
In his absence his youngest brother, Thomas, Duke of 
Gloucester, immediately stepped into the place that he 
had occupied, and not having Lancaster's mistakes to 
answer for, soon became a general favorite with the 
people. 

2. At this time very great alarm was caused in Eng- 
land by preparations made by France to invade the 
country. Not only were large bodies of , 

^ •' ° Intended 

troops assembled and a great fleet collected French inva- 
at Sluys, but an extraordinary apparatus had 
been constructed, in the shape of a movable wall of 
wood, with towers at short intervals which it was pro- 
posed to carry over the sea with the invading army and 
set up as a temporary fortification for any place they 
might succeed in taking. So great was the terror in- 
spired by these preparations that the Londoners them- 
selves were not without serious apprehension that the 
enemy might one day be seen unexpectedly at their 
gates ; and the Chancellor, De la Pole, now Earl of Suf- 
folk, caused large musters of men to be taken in the 
country within easy reach of the capital, that they might 
be ready when called for. But the danger shortly after- 
wards passed away. Some French vessels were taken 
at sea in which part of the wooden wall was found by 
the English ; and it was set up at Sandwich as a bul- 
wark against that very enemy for whose use it had 



28 Richard 11, CH. ii. 

been intended. The French King had 200 ships col- 
lected at Sluys, but the plan of the expedition was too 
cumbrous, and after putting off for three months from 
one cause or another, the wind became unfavorable 
and the season was too late to cross the Channel. The 
alarm in England then subsided, but it was remembered, 
to Suffolk's prejudice, that it was he who had caused 
those levies of troops in the neighborhood of London 
which had eaten up all the food of the people and op- 
pressed the inhabitants almost as if they had been ene- 
mies. 

3. Meanwhile a Parliament had assembled in London. 
The immediate danger had not yet passed away, but the 
feeling of alarm was mingled with a sense of indignation. 
How came it that an enem.y like the French, whom 
Englishmen had so often fought in their own country, 
were now able to inspire England with terror ? What a 
change since the days of King Edward III. and the 
Black Prince ! Whose fault could it be that no one went 
to fight the ships at Sluys and to disturb the enemy's 
preparations ? The Parliament felt very much inclined 
to censure those who had been intrusted with the ad- 
ministration, and sent a deputation to the King at Elt- 
ham, stating that they desired to treat of certain matters 
touching the Earl of Suffolk, which could not be properly 
discussed while he remained Chancellor. The King was 
indignant at this attempt to remove a minister of whose 
merits he himself had a high and apparently well- 
founded opinion. He returned a haughty and impudent 
answer, saying that he would not at the suggestion of 
Parliament dismiss the meanest valet of his kitchen, and 
he forbade them to say anything more on the subject. 
The Parliament, however, refused to proceed with any 
other business till their request was granted, and Richard 



1386. Revolution and Counter-Revolution. 29 

was obliged to yield. Suffolk was dismissed disgrace of 
from the office of Chancellor and impeached Suffolk. 
in parliament. Of the charges brought against him the 
gravest was that he had misapplied money granted for 
the defence of the kingdom and disobeyed ordinances 
of the preceding Parliament ; but of these points he was 
in effect acquitted, as it was considered that his fellows 
in the King's council were no less answerable for them 
than himself. To the others which accused him of en- 
riching himself unduly by grants from the Crown his 
answers were declared insufficient. He was accord- 
ingly condemned to forfeit all that had been granted 
to him by the Crown, and to be imprisoned during 
the King's pleasure. 

4. The disgrace of Suffolk, however, was only intended 
to clear the way for a new scheme of government devised 
by the ambition of Gloucester. On the plea that the 
Crown revenues were wasted by mismanagement, a com- 
mission of regency was demanded, by which it was vir- 
tually proposed to deprive the King of all authority what- 
ever, from that time forward. To terrify him iiito com- 
pliance, the Commons sent for the statute commission 
by which Edward II. had been deposed, and of regency. 
a friend of the Duke of Gloucester represented to him that 
if he obstinately resisted, it would endanger his life. Un- 
der these circumstances Richard only contended for the 
control of his own household by the nomination of his own 
steward, and that the powers of the commission should 
not continue more than one year, unless renewed by Par- 
liament. Eleven lords and three great officers of state, 
were then named to carry on the government, with full 
power to examine into the accounts of the treasury, to 
inquire into past abuses, and to administer justice where 
grievances could not be redressed by the common law. 



30 Richard II. ch. ii. 

In short, the power of the commissioners was to be abso- 
lute, and while it lasted the King's authority was to be ex- 
tinguished ; yet, to prevent the smallest attempt being 
made to undermine their authority, the King was com- 
pelled to give his assent to an enactment that whoever 
counselled opposition to the new regency should be lia- 
ble, for the first offence, to imprisonment with forfeiture 
of his goods, and for the second, to the loss of life or 
limb. 

5. The King at the close of the session was bold enough 
to make a personal protest in Parliament against any- 
thing that had been done contrary to the prerogatives 
of the Crown. He was at this time nearly twenty years 
of age, and a tame submission to enactments so very 
stringent would have sacrificed his authority for ever. To 
emancipate himself he took counsel with the Duke o! 
Ireland, who for some time delayed his departure for 
that country which he was to govern. After Easter the 
duke at length made arrangements for his going, and the 
King, leaving London along with him, accompanied him 
into Wales. But the duke had no intention yet to cross 
the Channel. On the contrary, the journey had been 
arranged that the King might take counsel undisturbed, 
not only with him, but also with some others, such as the 
Earl of Suffolk, the Archbishop of York, and Sir Robert 
Tresilian, Chief Justice of England. This Tresilian was 
a severe but undoubtedly sagacious judge. He had been 
appointed Chief Justice at the time of Wat Tyler's rebel- 
lion, when his predecessor was slain by the rioters. Men 
were at that time so terrified by what had passed, that 
juries showed great unwillingness to indict ; and at St. 
Alban's, where the insurgents had been peculiarly vio- 
lent, one jury refused. But Tresilian, warning them that 
they would endanger their own lives by a verdict against 



1387. ^%^ Struggle Continued. 31 

the evidence where the facts were so well known, at 
length got them to find a true bill against the rioters, 
which being obtained, he procured two other juries to 
give answer on the same cases exactly in agreement with 
the verdict of the first. By this means the offenders 
were at length brought to justice, and a wholesome fear 
of the law was re-established. But Tresilian's name was 
not the more loved in consequence. 

6. The King and his friends remained some time in 
Wales, but afterwards assembled a council 
at Nottingham, to which were summoned NSiigham. 
all the justices and sheriffs from every coun- 
ty, and some of the more notable citizens of London. In 
the midst of this assembly the King demanded of the 
judges their opinion as to the statutes passed in the pre- 
ceding session of Parliament, whether they were dero- 
gatory to the royal prerogative, and if so, what punish- 
ment was incurred by those who had impelled the King 
to subscribe to them. A unanimous answer was returned 
that the statutes were an invasion of the prerogative, and 
that those who had extorted the King's compliance had 
incurred the penalty of treason. This opinion was 
signed by all the judges, and countersigned by the mem- 
bers of the Council. It is true that some who signed it 
afterwards alleged that they had been driven to do so by 
fear ; but to all appearance, it was by fear that they were 
induced to make such an assertion. The commission of 
regency was distinctly unconstitutional, and quite as 
great an outrage on the liberty of the subject as on the 
rights of the King. It was now declared invalid. 

V. The Struggle Continued — The Wonderful Parlia- 
ment — The King of age. 

I. Hoping, accordingly, that he was now emancipa- 



32 Richard IT. ch. ii. 

ted from the control under which he had been placed, 
Richard proceeded to London, where he 

Nov'. lo/" arrived a few days before the date at which 
the commission of regency was to expire. 
He was met outside the capital by the mayor and citi- 
zens, wearing his own livery of white and crimson, and 
by them he was conducted, first to St. Paul's and after- 
wards to Westminster. But the Duke of Gloucester, and 
his allies the Earls of Arundel and Nottingham, had 
meanwhile taken the alarm, and having advanced to 
Hackney at the head of 40,000 men, were joined the 
next day at Waltham Cross by Henry, Earl of Derby, 
the son of John of Gaunt, and by the Earl of Warwick. 
These five lords gave it out as their object to deliver the 
King from certain traitors who, they said, kept him un- 
der undue control, and, according to the phraseology 
then in use, they "appealed of treason" five of the 
King's principal advisers. 

2. Richard had at first thought of resistance to this 
great armed host, but he soon found the city of London 
was not to be depended on. The lords gave out that 
the King's chosen counsellors urged him to treat with 
France for aid to put them down. Richard, it was said, 
was going to sell Calais to the French king. The Mayor 
of London told the King the city was willing to arm 
against his enemies, but not against his friends. Every- 
where the favorites were unpopular, and the Duke of 
Gloucester and his allies were looked upon as the true 
friends of the King and kingdom. The city opened its 
gates to them, and the five " lords appellants " presented 
themselves before Richard in Westminster Hall, named 
the five councillors whom they accused as traitors, flung 
down their gloves, and offered to prove the truth of their 
accusations by single combat. ThelCing, however, de- 



1387. The Struggle Continued. 2>Z 

cided that the matter should not be so determined, pro- 
mising that it should be fully discussed in the next Par- 
liament. Meanwhile, he insisted that both parties should 
be considered as remaining under his protection. 

3. Unfortunately, the King's protection, so far as the 
one side was concerned, was now of very little value. 
Richard was again in the hands of those ^,. , ^ 

1111 J • Flight of tl^e 

irom whom he had been endeavormg to King's 
escape, and they consulted seriously about ^ " ^' 
his deposition. The favorites saw that there was no 
safety for them except in flight, and they one and all 
escaped from London in disguise. Archbishop Nevill of 
York retired into the north country in the habit of a 
simple priest. The Duke of Ireland fled to Chester in 
the character of a groom, accompanied by four or five 
others. The Earl of Suffolk betook himself to Calais, 
where his brother Edniund de la Pole was governor of 
the castle. Dressed as a Flemish poulterer and carrying 
a basket with capons as if to supply the garrison, he 
sought admission to the fortress ; but his brother thought 
it his duty to deliver hini to Lord William Beauchanip, 
governor of the town, by whom he was sent back to 
England. 

4. The King was utterly deserted. He had, however, 
commissioned the Duke of Ireland to raise forces for him 
in Cheshire, and the Duke collected a body of 5,000 men 
with whom he marched southwards to the borders of 
Oxfordshire. He was met at Radcot Bridge 

" Encounter at 

upon the Thames by a force under the Earl Radcot Bridge, 

Tjcc 20 

of Derby. Seeking to avoid this army he 
was confronted by another under the Duke of Gloucester. 
Hemmed in on all sides he at once gave up the hope of 
victory and endeavored to save himself by flight. He 
plunged on horseback into the river, leaving his helmet 

D 



34 Richard II. v ch. ii. 

and armor on the bank. It was now night, and no one 
saw what had become of him. He was supposed to have 
been drowned. Molyneux, Constable of Chester, who 
also dashed into the river, was forced to return for fear 
of being pierced with arrows, and had his skull cleft on 
relanding. A groom and a boy were also killed, For 
the rest there was little fighting, or rather none. The 
Cheshire men were stripped of their weapons and even 
of their very clothes, and were left to go home in a state 
of disgraceful nakedness. The Duke of Ireland found 
means to escape to Ireland. 

5. The lords returned in triumph to London. Their 
armies, in three divisions, mustered at Clerkenwell, 
40,000 strong. After a little hesitation the 
city opened its gates to them. The King, 
who was spending his Christmas in the Tower, knew 
now that he was completely in their power. The victors 
sought an interview with him and were admitted within 
the fortress. They showed him the letters he himself 
had written to the Duke of Ireland ordering him to raise 
a force to oppose them, and they led him on to the ram- 
parts from whence he could see Tower Hill covered with 
an immense multitude of their followers. " These," said 
the Duke of Gloucester, "are but a tenth part of the 
numbers who will join us to put down traitors." The 
lords had not been able to agree about Richard's depo- 
sition, which, however acceptable it might have been to 
the Duke of Gloucester, was opposed by the Earls of 
Derby and Nottingham. But they were quite united in 
the determination to take vengeance on all who had 
given the King independent advice. Writs of summons 
had been issued by Richard for the meeting of Parlia- 
ment, in which, considering the subjects that were to be 
discussed, the sheriffs had been instructed to return as 



1388. The Struggle Continued. 35 

knights of the shire persons who had not taken part in 
the recent quarrels. These writs were revoked on the 
ground that such a quahfication was contrary ^ ^ ^ gg^ 
to the ancient form, and new writs were J^^- ^• 
issued omitting the objectionable clause. Proclamations 
were then issued for the appearance before 

Jan. 4. 

the Parliament of the Archbishop of York, 
the Duke of Ireland, Suffolk, Tresilian, and Sir Nicholas 
Brambre ; while at the same time orders were sent out 
consigning the two latter to Gloucester Castle, and a 
number of other friends of the King to confinement in 
other places. But Tresilian was not yet in custody. 
He was hiding himself from the vengeance that pursued 
him. 

6. Every one in whom the King had hitherto placed 
his confidence was now removed. Even his confessor, 
the Bishop of Chichester, was forbidden to come near 
him. The dominant party had not the least opposition 
to fear in the approaching Parliament. Some rumors, 
however, had got abroad which they felt it would be 
well to contradict at the commencement of the session. 
So after the causes for which Parliament 

Feb. 3, 

was summoned had been declared by the 
Bishop of Ely as Chancellor in the King's name, the 
Duke of Gloucester came forward and knelt before his 
sovereign, saying that he understood he had been ac- 
cused of an intention to depose him and make himself 
king, from which he offered to justify himself in what- 
ever manner the peers thought proper. The charge was 
certainly not without some foundation in truth, and the 
other " lord appellants " knew it well. But Richard at 
once declared in full Parliament that he held his uncle 
perfectly innocent. 
7. After this the serious work of the session com* 



36 Richard II. ch. ii. 

menced, and very serious work it proved to be. It was 
not without significance that the clause in the writs in- 
tended to secure impartiahty was cancelled. The doings 
of this Parliament are without a parallel in English his- 
tory, — so much so that the name " Wonder- 

The Wonder- , /' ,. 

ful Par- ful Parliament came afterwards to be ap- 

liament. ^j-^^ ^^ .^_ ^NxXh equal truth it was also 

called " the Merciless Parliament." On the very first 
day, all but one of the judges were arrested in their own 
courts while sitting upon the bench, and sent to the 
Tower. They were to be brought to account for the 
advice they had given the King that the proceedings of 
the last Parliament were unconstitutional. A long im- 
peachment was then drawn up against the five ministers 
accused by the five lords appellants. The charges against 
them were mainly that they had misled the King and 
alienated his true lords from him, with some more 
specific accusations in connection with the conference at 
Nottingham and similar matters. One article also spoke 
of an intention, that it was said had been entertained, 
to make the Duke of Ireland king of that country and 
alienate it from the Crown of England. 

8. Before pronouncing judgment upon this impeach- 
ment, the King desired to have the advice of the lawyers. 
The bill was laid before a committee of the profession, 
who pronounced it altogether irregular, either in civil or 
ecclesiastical law. The lords, however, decided that in 
cases of treason, and when the accused were members 
of their own body, no other law could be recognized 
than the law of Parliament itself. After some days' dis- 
cussion fourteen articles of the indictment were declared 
to amount to treason, and four of the appellees were 
found guilty. The Duke of Ireland, Suffolk and Tre- 
silian were condemned to be hanged and forfeit all theil 



1388. The Struggle Continued. 37 

goods. The Archbishop of York was found guilty, and 
his temporahties were seized ; but being a churchman, 
the penalty of death could not be pronounced against 
him. The King, however, was made to write to Rome 
for his translation to the Archbishopric of St. Andrew's 
in -Scotland, a country where the authority of Urban VI. 
was not recognized, and by this means he was in effect 
deprived. He escaped to Flanders, where he by some 
means was fortunate enough to obtain possession of a 
small living. 

9. The Archbishop, the Duke of Ireland, Suffolk, and 
Tresilian were all absent when judgment was pro- 
nounced against them. The duke had escaped to the 
Continent, and the earl had found a refuge in France. 
But Tresilian was lurking disguised in Westminster. 
He was discovered, brought up for sentence, and dis- 
missed to immediate execution. The last of the accused 
councillors, Sir Nicholas Brambre, was in prison. He 
offered to prove his innocence by wager of battle, but it 
was decided that such a mode of defence was not appli- 
cable to the case ; so he too underwent the capital sen- 
tence. 

10. The Commons next impeached the judges and 
law officers who had counselled the King at Nottingham 
to set aside the ordinances of the last Parliament. They 
endeavored to save themselves by alleging that they 
had acted under compulsion, but the excuse was not ad- 
mitted. They were found guilty of treason, but at the 
intercession of the bishops their lives were spared and 
they were banished to Ireland for the remainder of their 
days. But John Blake, a lawyer who had proposed to 
indict the five lords for conspiracy, and Thomas Uske, 
who had accepted the office of under-sheriff of Middle- 
sex for the purpose, were condemned and executed. 



38 Richard II. ch. ij. 

The Bishop of Chichester, who, as we have already 
mentioned, was the King's confessor, was then called 
before Parliament. He denied a charge imputed to him 
of having used threats to the judges at Nottingham, and 
said they were placed under no constraint whatever. 
But he had been guilty of concealing the " treason " of 
the condemned councillors ; in excuse for which he in 
vain pleaded the confidential nature of his office, and 
that he had used his best efforts with the King to pre- 
vent mischief. He was banished, like the judges, into 
Ireland. 

11. Not satisfied with this, the Commons proceeded 
to impeach four other knights as accomplices of the con- 
demned traitors. The first was Sir Simon Burley, lately 
Constable of Dover Castle, a veteran of the preceding 
reign, to whom the Black Prince had com.mitted the 
care of Richard's childhood. He offered, like Brambre 
to prove his innocence in the ordinary manner of 
knights. This he was not allowed to do, but his ac- 
cusers had much trouble to establish his guilt. The 
King, the Queen, and even the Earl of Derby, one of 
the lords appellants, made the most urgent efforts to in- 
duce the Duke of Gloucester to spare his life ; but all 
was to no purpose. Of thirteen charges one was at 
length declared to be proved ; sentence of death was 
passed upon him, and he was beheaded the same day. 
The three other knights suffered a week later. 

12. At the end of four months — an unusually long ses- 
sion in those days — Parliament was dissolved, but not 
until it had made the king renew his coronation oath 
and every member of both Houses swear that they would 
never allow its ordinances to be repealed. Already all 
the members had sworn at the beginning of the session 
to be true to the five lords and take their part against all 



1389- The Struggle Continued. 39 

opponents so long as Parliament should last ; the sheriffs 
also throughout the kingdom were ordered to exact a 
similar oath of all the principal residents within their 
jurisdictions. 

13. Even after the breaking up of such a Parliament 
the King was left for some time in subjection to the 
confederate lords. But next year, at a coun- 

■' A. D. 1389. 

cil held in the beginning of May, he sud- May 3. The 
denly asked his uncle Gloucester to tell him ^^^ ° ^^^' 
his age. " Your' Highness," said the Duke, *' is in your 
twenty-second year." "Then," replied the King, "I 
must be old enough to manage my own affairs, as every 
heir in my kingdom is at liberty to do when he is twenty- 
one. I thank you, my lords, for the trouble you have 
taken on my behalf hitherto, but I shall not require your 
services any longer." On this he required the Great 
Seal and the keys of the Exchequer to be given up to 
him, and made the venerable Bishop Wykeham his 
chancellor instead of the Archbishop of York. Of the 
other lords then in his council he retained the Duke of 
York and the Earl of Derby as members of a new coun- 
cil ; but Gloucester and the rest he dismissed. At the 
same time no violent change was effected ; and the 
King's assertion of his independence seems to have met 
with general approbation. 

VI. The King and the Duke of Gloucester, 

I. For some years little or nothing occurred to dis- 
turb the harmony between King and people. There 
was, it is true, at one time, a renewal of the 

A. D. 1392. 

old distrust between the city of London and 
the Court, and the city not only refused the King a loan 
of 1,000/., but actually maltreated a Lombard who was 
willing to accommodate him. For this the mayor and 



40 Richard II. ch. ii. 

sheriffs were arrested, and it was determined that the 
Londoners should no longer have the free election of 
their rulers, but be governed by a warden appointed by 
the King. But Richard was soon persuaded to forgive 
the citizens. He consented to receive deputies from the 
city, who pleaded hard in behalf of their ancient liber- 
ties. He ratified some of their franchises, amended 
others, and restored the right of self-government to the 
city on their finding him 10,000/. security for their future 
good behaviour. Finally, he consented to pay the city 
a visit, when he was received with every possible demon- 
stration of joy and satisfaction. The nobles, however, 
we are told, were offended at his lenity toward a turbu- 
lent metropolis. 

2. But from the time of the dismissal of the five lords, 
it was hardly possible that those noblemen could be so 
assured of the King's forgiveness and cordiality as to feel 
no kind of anxiety for the consequences of their past con- 
duct. The Duke of Gloucester, in particular, distrusted 
his nephew, and held aloof from his councils. When 
summoned to attend and give his advice on public affairs 
with other lords, it is said that he was always the last to 
come and the first to go. Richard, nevertheless, showed 

him a remarkable degree of confidence. 
A. D. 1393. He employed him in negotiations for peace 
A. D. 1394. ^^^ France, took him in his company over 

to Ireland, to subdue some rebellious chief- 
A. D. 1395. tains, and while remaining in that country 

sent him over again to England to demand 
supplies from a Parliament at London. But the old 
breach was not effectually healed. The duke courted 
popularity, and whenever the policy of Richard was in 
any degree opposed to the prejudices of the majority, he 
was always on the people's side. In the year 1394 Rich- 



1396. The King and the Duke of Gloucester. 41 

ard lost his Queen, Anne of Bohemia, to whom he was 
most devotedly attached. Two years later he endea- 
voured to convert an old enemy into a friend, and pro- 
posed to form a firm alliance with France, cemented by 
a marriage with Isabella, the French king's daughter, 
though she was only eight years old. To this the Duke 
of Gloucester showed himself strongly opposed, appeal- 
ing to the old national hatred of France, and insinu- 
ating that Richard would give up Calais and all the 
English conquests to the French king. The 

. A. D. 1396. 

marriage nevertheless was duly celebrated, 
and it was not long after that the misunderstanding be- 
tween the King and his uncle came to a crisis. 

3. Information was conveyed to the King that Glou- 
cester had formed a new conspiracy against him with 
his old associates. According to Froissart, 

A. D. 1397. 

he applied to his two other uncles for ad- 
vice. They confessed the duke was greatly given to in- 
trigue, but advised the King to let the matter sleep, as 
he had no power to carry his designs into execution. 
Richard, however, was not thus satisfied ; and if we may 
trust his own proclamation afterwards, his uncles must 
have admitted at length that it was needful to anticipate 
the danger. He accordingly paid a visit to the Duke of 
Gloucester at his castle of Fleshy, in Essex, and there 
caused him to be arrested and delivered to the custody 
of the Earl of Nottingham, the Earl Marshal, by whom 
he was immediately conducted to the Thames, put on 
board a boat, and conveyed over to Calais. The Earls 
of Warwick and Arundel were arrested at the same time. 

4. The policy pursued by these same lords ten years 
before was now turned against themselves. At a coun- 
cil held at Nottingham, a number of the other nobles, 
including Edward, Earl of Rutland, a son of the Duke 



42 Richard 11. CH. ii. 

of York, and Thomas Mowbray, Earl Marshal, engaged 
to "appeal" them of treason at a coming parliament. 
On its assembling, the Commons petitioned that the 
commission of regency of the year 1386 should be 
repealed, as having been extorted by violence, and that 
it should be treason to attempt to procure such a com- 
mission in future. They also desired that all pardons, 
whether general or special, heretofore granted to the 
Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel and War- 
wick, should be revoked, as having been given under 
constraint or passed in ignorance. This was in effect 
but the first step towards calling them to account for 
actions which had been for many years condoned. The 
petitions, however, were unanimously agreed to by both 
Houses; and the Commons, leaving to the Peers the 
trial of the charges brought by the appellants against 
the three lords, proceeded to impeach Thomas Arundel, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, a brother of the Earl of 
Arundel, of high treason, as having been instrumental 
in procuring the commission of regency and the execu- 
tion of Sir Simon Burley, against the will of the King. 
The archbishop acknowledged the facts in the presence 
of the King and certain lords ; his confession was 
recorded in Parliament, and sentence of banishment 
and confiscation was pronounced against him. 

5. Of the three lords who were to be tried in Parlia- 
ment, the first who was brought up for judgment was 
^ Arundel, the archbishop's brother. He was 

Execution of i i i n • 

the Earl of a favoritc with the people, but had enemies 
among his brother peers, besides being dis- 
liked by the King. In the early part of the reign he 
had been appointed admiral, and had won for himself 
general admiration by a splendid victory over a com- 
bined fleet of Flemings, French, and Spaniards, when 



1397- "-^^^ King and the Duke of Gloucester. 43 

he captured a hundred ships. Such a man was of course 
looked up to by all those who were opposed to the 
French alliance. But John of Gaunt, with whom he 
had more than once quarreled, was commissioned to 
preside at his trial as Lord High Admiral of England ; 
and the revocation of all the pardons previously granted 
to him destroyed the only plea by which he ventured 
to defend himself. He was condemned to be beheaded, 
and was executed the same day in Cheapside. 

6. The Earl Marshal, who was governor of Calais, 
was then commanded to bring over the Duke of Glou- 
cester to be tried before his peers. He sent back an 
answer that the duke could not be produced, as he had 
died in his custody at Calais. It was natu- ,, , 

■' Murder of the 

rally believed that he had been put to death Duke of Glou- 
by Richard's order ; and though the fact is 
not absolutely free from doubt, there is certainly great 
reason to suspect that it was true. The duke, however, 
had made a written confession in his own hand before 
his death, in reply to certain questions which William 
Rickhill, one of the justices, had been commissioned to 
administer to him. He had acknowledged the offences 
he had committed against the King ten years before. 
He admitted that he had come armed into the King's 
palace, taken the King's letters from his messengers 
and opened them without his leave ; that he had taken 
counsel about throwing up his allegiance and deposing 
his sovereign. All these acts, however, he professed to 
have done in self-defence and for fear of his life ; more- 
over, the deposition of the King, he affirmed, was only 
intended to be for two or three days, after which the 
confederate lords would have renewed their oaths to him 
and placed him in as high a position as before. But 
since a certain day when he had been sworn to the King 



44 Richard II. CH. ii. 

upon the Sacrament at Langley, he denied that he had 
ever made or known of any gatherings against him *. 
and on these grounds, he appealed to the King's com- 
passion, as a prince that had always shown himself 
merciful in pardoning offenders. 

7. His own acts, certainly, when he was in power, 
gave him but little claim to compassion now ; yet it 
would have been well for Richard if, after obtaining 
from him such a confession, he had suffered his uncle to 
live. The murder, indeed, was quite unnecessary, for 
he could have had no difficulty, if so minded, in bring- 
ing Gloucester to the block by the judgment of his peers 
in parliament ; and if he feared the spirit of disaffection 
such an act would probably have aroused, he ought to 
have feared no less a public rumor that the duke had 
been foully dealt with. But the time had come, appar- 
ently, when he thought it necessary for his own safety 
altogether to extinguish the confederacy which, eleven 
years before, had stripped him of his royal power and 
almost succeeded in preventing the possibility of his 
recovering it. If treason of such a magnitude could be 
condoned, — if any pardon afterwards granted could 
shield such great offenders, — was there not very serious 
danger that a similar attempt would be made another 
time ? 

8. The Earl of Warwick did not undergo the fate 
^, ^ , ^ either of Gloucester or of Arundel. When 

The Earl of 

Warwick brought to trial he confessed his guilt, and 

sentence was pronounced upon him, but the 
King commuted it into exile, and banished him to the 
Isle of Man. 

VII. The Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk. 
1. Thus were three of the five " lords appellants " of 



1397- The Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk. 45 

1387 incapacitated for giving further trouble. The other 
two still remained alive, but their conduct was more 
favourably construed. It was declared that the Earls of 
Derby and Nottingham had separated from their col- 
leagues whenever they perceived the true nature of 
their designs ; and so far were they from being incrimi- 
nated on the present occasion, that they stood among 
the accusers of their old confederates. In point of fact 
they were justified in disclaiming full complicity with 
Gloucester, for it was owing to their opposition that he 
was obliged to abandon the design of deposing his 
nephew. Besides, the Earl of Derby had made the 
strongest remonstrances against the execution of Sir 
Simon Burley, and even quarreled with his uncle for 
insisting on it. As to Nottingham, the Earl Marshal, 
his conduct had evidently, long before this, regained 
him the king's confidence, for Richard had sent him 
into France to negotiate his marriage with Isabella, and 
even as his proxy to marry her. But at this time, as if 
to remove all possible misapprehension, the King took 
occasion to acknowledge both these lords publicly as 
his friends, by creating the Earl of Derby Duke of 
Hereford, and the Earl Marshal Duke of Norfolk. 

2. Unfortunately the turn which affairs were now 
taking hardly allowed them to repose with confidence 
even on these strong evidences of the King's regard. 
Parliament was busy reversing all that the Wonderful 
Parliament had done, and in a supplementary session 
held at Shrewsbury in the beginning of the 
following year the whole of the proceedings ment of 
of that Parliament were expressly annulled. ^^^^ ^^' 
It would have been well if this had been done by mea- 
sures that were not open to very much the same objec- 
tions. But the acts, of this Parliament were in reality 



46 Richard II. . ch. ii. 

nothing else than a copy of those passed in the Parlia- 
ment which they condemned. As in 1387 five lords ap- 
pealed the King's favorites of treason, so now the 
friends of the King appealed three of the former lords 
appellants. As in 1387 an impeachment was sustained 
declared by the lawyers to be irregular, so now it was 
ruled that no pardons, general or particular, could be 
pleaded against the appeal. As in 1388 Lords and Com- 
mons all took an oath that they would not allow the acts 
of that Parliament to be repealed, the very same was 
done on this occasion. Further, as in 1388 Archbishop 
Nevill of York had been, on application to the Pope, de- 
prived of his archbishopric by being translated to the 
See of St. Andrew's in Scotland, where the authority of 
Urban was not acknowledged, the very same means 
were now used to deprive Archbishop Arundel of the See 
of Canterbury. He, too, was translated by Urban to St. 
Andrew's. It was a great day of retribution for past mis- 
deeds, and warning had been given already that royal 
pardons were no security to the offenders. 

3, Such being the case, it happened that one day in 
December, 1397, the new-made Duke of Norfolk over- 
took the new-made Duke of Hereford on the road be- 
tween Brentford and London, and in the course of con- 
versation expressed a fear that even they two might be 
brought to account for their old confederacy with Glou- 
cester and the affair of Radcot Bridge. The Duke of 
Hereford said he could not believe that the King would 
be guilty of so great perfidy, but Norfolk insinuated that 
it was no longer possible to trust to anything, and that 
they would be made responsible like the others. In 
communicating his thoughts thus freely to the Duke of 
Hereford, Norfolk doubtless trusted either to his sense of 
honor or of interest to keep it secret. But his confidence 



1398. The Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk. 47 

was misplaced. The general drift of the conversation 
was communicated by Hereford to the King, who com- 
manded him to submit a report of it to Parliament. This 
he did in the session held at Shrewsbury in 

Ai D. 1390. 

the beginning of the year 1398 — ^with what 
results we shall see presently. 

4. It is evident that since the days of the commission 
of regency a considerable reaction had taken place in 
favor of the royal prerogative. Authority had been 
shaken to its foundation at the beginning of the reign. 
Wat Tyler and the rebels had shown its weakness. The 
King, who was the constitutional source of power, was 
then a minor, and a strong despotism, under a popular 
favorite like Gloucester, was preferred to a more equita- 
ble government by weaker men. The spirit of the 
King himself was cowed by being thus brought into sub- 
jection. He failed in one attempt to reassert his author- 
ity, and even when he did regain his liberty he made no 
attempt to punish the wrong that had been done to him. 
The opinions given by his judges at Nottingham were 
still branded as treason. The judges themselves he only 
ventured to recall from banishment in 1397. But now he 
had a Parhament desirous of restoring authority to its 
old foundations. The constraint that had been put upon 
the King in former days was at length declared to have 
been illegal. The questions addressed by the King to 
the judges at Nottingham and the answers given by them, 
which they themselves afterwards disowned through 
fear, were read in the Parhament at Shrewsbury. The 
judges and serjeants-at-law were called in and asked to 
give their opinion on the subject. They one and all 
confirmed the answers given by the former judges, and 
declared that they would have made the same rephes. 
The commission of regency, the Wonderful Parliament 



48 Richard II. ch. ii. 

and all its acts, were therefore illegal, and were accord- 
ingly so declared. As the King, was the real source of 
all legitimate power, the King's will could not be lawfully 
put under constraint of any kind. 

5. The reaction was not unnatural, but it was a dan- 
gerous one to carry too far ; and the Parliament at 
Shrewsbury carried it to an extreme. It was not in itself 
calculated to give greater weight to their proceedings, 
that having once met at Westminster, they should have 
assembled after the Christmas recess on the borders of 
Wales. Yet in a very brief sitting at Shrewsbury, this 
Parliament not only annulled the whole proceedings of 
the Wonderful Parliament, but enacted that any attempt 
to annul their own should be considered treason. The 
King even asked if greater security could be given on 
this head, and if he could bind his successors ; but being 
told that he could not, he made application to the Pope 
and obtained a bull denouncing excommunication against 
any one who should attempt to reverse what had been 
done. To complete the fabric of despotism, the Parlia- 
ment, after sitting only four days, delegated its whole 
powers to a committee of twelve lords and six com- 
moners, special friends of the King, who were to act 
after its dissolution. By this ingenious device Richard 
was made practically absolute. It could hardly be ne- 
cessary for him ever to call a parliament again ; for where- 
everthe King himself was with a sufficient number of the 
committee, he had the full powers of Parliament with him. 

6. To this tribunal were referred the accusations 
brought by the Duke of Hereford against Norfolk. Both 
parties were summoned to appear before it, first at Os- 
westry and afterwards at Windsor : but as nothing could 
Wager ^^ elicited from eithQr, except assertion on 
of battle. the one hand and denial on the other, it 



139S. The Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk. 49 

was proposed, and agreed to by both dukes, to settle 
the matter by wager of battle according to the laws of 
chivalry. The combat was appointed to be at Coventry 
on September 16. The whole nation was agitated at the 
prospect of the coming event, and when the lists were 
drawn up on the day appointed, Richard fearing distur- 
bances among the nobles, had 10,000 persons in arms 
to keep the peace. On which side lay the sympathies 
of most men there could not be a doubt, for the Duke 
of Norfolk was commonly looked upon as the murderer 
of the Duke of Gloucester, and the Londoners even in- 
sinuated that the wager of battle was a plot of the King's 
to destroy his cousin as he had already destroyed his 
uncle. Henry of Lancaster, as he was popularly called, 
the Duke of Hereford, was everywhere the favorite. 

7. At Coventry, on the day appointed, the combatants 
entered the lists. Each took an oath that his quarrel 
was just, the Lord Marshal examined their spears to see 
that they were of equal length, and a herald commanded 
them to mount their horses and proceed to the combat. 
But at this point the King threw down his warder as a 
signal to suspend further proceedings, and consulted 
with his parliamentary council what course it was best to 
take in a matter so full of danger. After two hours* 
deliberation, the determination was an- ^, 

The two 

nounced. To preserve the peace of the dukes 
realm the King decreed that the Duke of 
Hereford should be banished for ten years, and that 
the Duke of Norfolk, as it appears he had confessed to 
some points which might have occasioned trouble in the 
land, should quit the kingdom as a pilgrim, never to re- 
turn, and should dwell in Germany, Bohemia, or Hun- 
gary for the rest of his days. Finally, lest they should 
become reconciled abroad and combine against the 



50 Richard II. CH. ii. 

King, they were forbidden to communicate with each 
other or with the deprived Archbishop Arundel. 

8. A decision hke this was a strange perversion of 
justice. On the face of the matter one party was guilty 
of treason, or the other of gross and malicious libel. The 
King could not determine on which side lay the guilt, 
and professed to regard either party as innocent, yet 
out of considerations of expediency he punished both as 
if they had both been guilty. There was, besides, an 
apparent partiality shown to the Duke of Hereford on 
grounds which were not very explicitly declared. But 
the unfairness of the original decision was not all ; for 
while the sentence against Norfolk passed uncriticised, 
the milder sentence against Hereford was still further 
mitigated. Owing, doubtless, to the influence of his 
father, John of Gaunt, and to his general popularity, 
the term of his exile was reduced from ten years to six be- 
fore he left the country. That of Norfolk was not 
altered. So the latter went abroad, made a pilgrimage 
to Jerusalem, and died on his return at Venice of a 
broken heart. What became of the Duke of Hereford 
must be related at greater length. 

Vin. The King and Henry of Lancaster. 
I. Richard had now got rid of all the five lords who 
had leagued themselves together against him in 1 387 . 
He had also got rid of parliamentary control. But he 
could not be altogether free from the fear of future com- 
binations. And having already entered on a career of 

despotism he saw no means to make him- 
distSSfm. self secure except to become more and 

more despotic. He and his parhamentary 
committee issued an ordinance declaring it treason to 
attempt to obtain a reversal of any of their decrees, just 



1399- "^^^ King and Henry of Lancaster. 51 

as it had been already declared treason to attempt to 
annul those of the Parliament. Every bishop before 
obtaining possession of his temporalities, and every lord 
before coming into his inheritance, was to swear to ob- 
serve, not only the statutes made in the Parliament of 
the twenty- first year of the reign, but also all the ordi- 
nances made afterwards by the parliamentary committee. 

2. But even this abuse of power was not so much felt 
as some others to which the King was afterwards 
driven by the state of his exchequer. His 

. -^ , A. D. 1399. 

finances were getting low, and he raised 
money by forced loans. All who were any way im- 
plicated in the acts of Gloucester, Warwick, ^^. 

* His extortions. 

and Arundel, were compelled to purchase 
their pardons by fines ; and seventeen counties were in 
this way amerced as having assisted the confederates at 
Radcot Bridge. But the mode of extortion which na- 
turally excited the greatest amount of discontent was the 
issuing of what were called blank charters, to which 
even those not accused of treason, but the moneyed 
men of the kingdom generally, were compelled to set 
their seals, without knowing to what amount they made 
themselves liable. 

3. The exigency which led him to resort to this last 
means of raising money seems to have been occasioned 
by a rebellion in Ireland which he determined r ebellion in 
to go and put down with an army under his 1'^^'^"^. 
personal command. He had already, some years before, 
visited that country with results which appeared at the 
time to be satisfactory. All attempts to oppose his power 
were soon abandoned. The native chieftains submitted 
and did him homage. Four native kings acknowledged 
his sovereignty at Dublin, received the honor of knight- 
hood, and promised to adopt English customs. But now 



52 Richard II. ch. ii. 

he learned that his cousin, Roger Mortimer, Earl of 
March, whom he had left as his vicegerent, had been 
slain in a new revolt of the natives, and he determined 
to go thither once more and bring the Irish into more 
complete subjection. 

4. But meanwhile an event had taken place which 
unhappily suggested to the King's mind the thought of 

Death of an act still more arbitrary and perfidious. 
Gaunt° . Old John of Gaunt died in the early part of 
Feb. 3. ^jj^g year, and his title as Duke of Lancaster 

devolved rightly on his son the banished Hereford. It 
had also been conceded to the Dukes of Hereford and 
Norfolk before they left England, that notwithstanding 
their banishment they might by attorney take possession 
of any inheritance that might fall to them in their 
absence. But the King's wants were great, the duchy 
of Lancaster was wealthy, and it occurred to Richard 
and his council (now that there was no one on that 
council to represent the interests of the family), that a 
banished man was not qualified to inherit property. 
The former grant was consequently annulled, and the 
King's officers took possession of the property of the de- 
ceased duke, as a forfeiture due to the Crown. 

5. After Whitsuntide Richard sailed for Ireland from 
Milford Haven with a fleet of 200 ships. Within two 

^^ ^^. days he arrived at Waterford, from which 

The King •' 

sails to he advanced to Kilkenny. There several 

chieftains submitted to him with halters 
round their necks. He then went onto Dublin, and was 
preparing for a further campaign when he suddenly re- 
ceived news from England of a most alarming nature, 
which showed how much his presence was required in 
his own kingdom. Henry of Lancaster, who since he 
left the country had resided at Paris, had obtained per- 



1399- -^'^^ King and Henry of Lancaster. 53 

mission of the French kinq^ to pay a visit to the Duke 
of Brittany. Arrived in that country he hired three small 
vessels with which he sailed for England, having in his 
company the deprived Archbishop of Canterbury and a 
very small band of followers. After some days he landed 
at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire, a harbor at the Henry of 
mouth of the Humber now washed away by lands in 
the sea. He made known that it was his "^ ^" * 
object to recover his paternal estates, with the title, which 
justly belonged to him, of Duke of Lancaster, and he 
was joined by the Earls of Northumberland and West- 
moreland, before whom he took oath at Doncaster that 
he had no further aim than to seek his own inheritance. 
6. The King's uncle, Edmund, Duke of York, whom 
Richard had appointed keeper of England during his 
absence, on hearing of Henry's landing took 
counsel how to oppose him. He summoned of York! 
the King's retainers to join his standard at 
St. Alban's, where he mustered 1,000 lances and 60,000 
archers ; but so high was the popularity of the Duke of 
Lancaster, so deep the general sense of the injustice with 
which he had been treated, that these very men de- 
clared they would not go against him. On this the 
Duke of York bent his course towards Wales, where 
Richard had always met with the most unwavering sup- 
port. He reached Berkeley Castle, while the Lord Trea- 
surer, Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, with Bushy and Green, 
two leading members of Richard's parliamentary com- 
mittee, went to Bristol. Sir John Bushy had been the 
Speaker of the House of Commons before the last Par- 
liament was dissolved ; and he, with Sir Henry Green 
and Sir William Bagot, were universally detested as the 
principal agents of the King's extortions. Meanwhile 
the Duke of Lancaster had passed southwards with a 



54 Richard II. CH. ii. 

following which continually increased the further he 
went on, and had arrived at Evesham as the Duke of 
York reached Berkeley. The latter had now no hope 
of taking the field against him ; but the thought of his 
duty to Richard still weighed upon his mind, and he 
seems to have cast about for some means of satisfying 
his conscience on the score of his allegiance, without 
attempting an enterprise which was manifestly hopeless. 
Was the Duke of Lancaster really a rebel after all ? He 
sent him a message to demand his object in coming thus 
armed into the land — did he mean to dispossess King 
Richard of the crown, or did he only seek to recover his 
own property ? According to the oath already taken by 
Duke Henry at Doncaster this last was his only object; 
but that object could not be effected unless the evil 
counsellors who had persuaded Richard to confiscate 
his possessions were removed and punished. So Henry 
confessed that he came to remove the King's evil coun- 
sellors, but he denied that he had any designs against 
the King himself. This declaration appears to have 
satisfied the scruples of the Duke of York, and he, the 
chosen guardian of Richard's kingdom in his absence, 
went over to Henry's side. 

7. Duke Henry^ now practically master of the whole 
kingdom, went on to Bristol, where he caused the Earl 
of Wiltshire, Green, and Bushy to be beheaded ; the first 
for an alleged bargain that he had made to sell Calais to 
the French king, and the two others on the ground that 
they had counselled extortionate taxation. All three, 
indeed, along with Bagot, had farmed the revenues of 
the kingdom, and derived large profits from the people's 
burdens; so they met with little compassion. It was 
fortunate for Bagot that he was not apprehended at the 
same time ; but instead of going to Bristol on Henry's 



1399- ^^^ King and Henry of Lancaster. 55 

approach, he had escaped into Cheshire, from which he 
passed over into Ireland. 

8. Meanwhile the King himself was in Ireland, igno- 
rant of the revolt of his kingdom at home. When he 
was first apprised of Henry's invasion he was thunder- 
struck. He had with him at that very time the son of the 
invader, afterwards the brilliant victor of Agincourt, 
Henry V. He was his godson, and he had just recently 
made him a knight with his own hands. But his thoughts 
first turned not to the son but to the father of his present 
enemy. " Ha, good uncle of Lancaster," he exclaimed, 
" God have mercy upon your soull For had I believed 
you, this man would not have angered me now. You 
told me truly I did ill to forgive him so frequently. 
Three times have I pardoned him his offences against 
me ; this is the fourth time he has provoked me." An- 
other time, addressing the young man, " See," he said, 
" what thy father has done. He has invaded my realm 
as an enemy, killing and imprisoning my lieges without 
pity. I grieve for thee, for this mischance may cost thee 
thine inheritance." " My gracious lord," said the other, 
"this news distresses me greatly; but you see that I am 
innocent of what my father has done." "I know it," 
said the King, " and I hold thee guiltless." The young 
prince, however, along with a son of the Duke of Glou- 
cester, was removed to the Castle of Trim for security. 

9. Yet even now the urgency of the crisis was scarcely 
realized. That the King must return to England was 
obvious, but there were not enough vessels at Dublin to 
transport a large army, so the question was whether the 
King himself should go over at once, or send the Earl of 
Salisbury first into Wales. By the advice of the Duke 
of Albemarle (or as his name was popularly called, Au- 
merle), the Duke of York's son, the latter course was 



56 Richard II. CH. IL 

resolved on. Salisbury was sent over with as large a 
force as the ships could convey, and the King marched 
with the rest to Waterford to embark there, intending to 
rejoin the Earl in Wales. The resolution was most un- 
fortunate. The Earl of Salisbury landed at Conway and 
soon gathered to his standard a large number of the 
Welsh. But a whole fortnight elapsed and nothing was 
heard of the King, while it was known that Henry had 
gained nearly the whole of England, and was every- 
where removing the King's officers and putting to death 
those who opposed him. At last the King arrived at 
Milford Haven along with his cousin the Duke of Albe- 
marle, his half-brother the Duke of Exeter, and his 
nephew the Duke of Surrey, three bishops, and a pretty 
considerable army. But the news which met them on 
their arrival was so discouraging that the great bulk of 
these forces very speedily deserted him ; and Richard, 
after a consultation, set out in disguise by night, accom- 
panied by just fourteen of his more trusty friends, to join 
the Earl of Salisbury at Conway, desiring the Duke of 
Albemarle and Sir Thomas Percy to follow him. They, 
however, in the morning dismissed the remaining forces 
and hastened to join Henry. 

10. At Conway the King arrived in safety, but it was 
only to learn that his last hope had failed him. The 
Earl of Salisbury indeed was there ; but the men whom 
he had at first succeeded in raising for the King's ser- 
vice were no longer with him. In the utter absence of 
all tidings from Richard disagreeable rumors had got 
abroad and he had found it impossible to keep them 
together. The Earl burst into tears when he saw his 
sovereign and explained to him the hopelessness of the 
situation, but it was presently arranged that the Dukes 
of Exeter and Surrey should go to Henry to learn the 



1399* ^^^ King and Henry of Lancaster. 57 

extent of his demands, and report them to the King, 
The Duke of Exeter was the King's brother, but he had 
married Henry's sister, and Henry on seeing him endea- 
vored to will him to his side ; but he dechned to allow 
either him or Surrey to return to the King, and sent the 
latter a prisoner to Chester Castle. Henry now resolved 
on obtaining possession of Richard's person, and com- 
missioned the Earl of Northumberland to go to Conway. 
The Earl took with him a body of men and archers, with 
whose aid he took possession of Flint and Rhuddlan 
Castles, but before coming in sight of Conway he left 
them behind. That castle was too strong to be easily 
taken, and the King might have escaped from it by sea. 
Northumberland accordingly went forward with only 
five attendants, and obtained an audience of Richard 
as the bearer of a letter from the Duke of Exeter and 
of Henry's answer to his message. The demands of 
Henry, he said, were that Richard should promise to 
govern according to law, that Exeter, Surrey, Salisbury, 
and the Bishop of Carlisle should be tried in Parliament 
as accomplices in the murder of Gloucester, and that 
Henry should be made grand justiciary of the kingdom, 
as his ancestors had been. On these conditions Henry 
was willing to come to Flint, ask the King's pardon on 
his knees, and go with him to London. 

II. Only a sense of utter helplessness induced Richard 
to listen to these terms with patience. They implied that 
he was to deliver up, nominally only for trial, but really 
to execution, his brother, his nephew, and the counsellors 
who were then about him. On consultation with these 
last, however, it was thought good that he should dissem- 
ble, and only exact an oath from the Earl of Northum- 
berland, which he had expressed himself quite ready to 
take, that Henry would adhere to these conditions. The 



58 Richard II. ch. ii. 

Earl then swore to that effect upon the Sacrament, and 
Richard consented to accompany him. But they had 
not gone far when the King came in view of Northum- 
berland's followers and saw he was betrayed. He would 
have returned, but the Earl seized his horse by the bri- 
dle and carried him off in all haste to Flint Castle, there 
to await an interview with Henry. On August 19 Henry 
came at the head of a mighty host, and presented him- 
self before the King in full armor. "My Lord," he said, 
" I have come before you have sent for me. The reason 
is that your people commonly say you have ruled them 
very rigorously for twenty or two and twenty years ; but, 
if it please God, I will help you to govern better." 

12. With great parade and blowing of trumpets Rich- 
ard and his little company were conducted to Chester, 
where the King was confined in the dungeon of the 
castle. Writs, however, were issued in his name, sum- 
moning Parliament to meet at London. In a few days 
the journey was resumed, and dismissing most of his 
forces the duke brought Richard to the capital, where 
the former was received with acclamations, the latter 
with curses. The King was committed to the Tower, 
and even his child-queen, who was at this time but ten 
years old, was forbidden to visit him. On Michaelmas 
day his signature was obtained to an act of abdication 
in which he declared himself utterly incapable of gov- 
erning and worthy to be deposed. The Parliament met 
Deposition of o^ the following day. In it the King's resig- 
the King. nation was read, and gave great satisfac- 

tion. An act was then passed setting forth a number 
of charges against his government as reasons for his de- 
position ; which met with no opposition except from his 
faithful counsellor the Bishop of Carlisle, who for chal- 
lenging the right of the two Houses to take such a step 



1399' ^^^ King and Henry of Lancaster. 59 

was sent prisoner to the Abbey of St. Alban's. Henry- 
next stepped forward and claimed the throne as rightly 
due to him by descent from King Henry HI. 

13. Now in point of fact Henry was not the next in 
succession. His father John of Gaunt was the fourth son 
of Edward HI., and there were descendants 
of that King's third son, Lionel Duke of Cla- claim by 
rence, living ; so that it should have been ^^'^^"'^• 
quite unnecessary to go back so far as Henry HI. At 
one time Richard himself had designated as his succes- 
sor the nobleman who really stood next to him in the 
line of descent. This was Roger Mortimer, -Earl of 
March, the same who was killed by the rebels in Ire- 
land. This Roger had left a son Edmund to inherit his 
title ; but Edmund was a mere child, and the inconve- 
nience of another minority could not have been en- 
dured. So the nation was very well disposed to accept 
Henry as king without inquiring too closely into his claim 
by birthright ; and Henry put forward a claim through 
his mother founded upon a very idle story indeed, a 
story so extravagant and untrue that it looks as if it had 
been invented to serve his purpose. The truth, how- 
ever, seems to be that it was current in the days of his 
father John of Gaunt, who got it written in some chroni- 
cles which were sent to different monasteries, to flatter 
his vanity ; and perhaps John of Gaunt expected that he 
himself might have been able one day to claim the crown 
upon the strength of it. This story was that so far back 
as the days of King Edward I. the succession had got out 
of the true line of descent ; that the eldest son of Henry 
III. was not King Edward, but his brother Edmund 
Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, who was commonly re- 
puted the second son ; and that this Edrnund had been 
purposely set aside on account of his personal deformity. 



6o Richard II. ch, ii. 

The plain fact of the matter was that Edmund Crouch- 
back was six years younger than his brother Edward L, 
and that his surname of Crouchback had not the small- 
est reference to personal deformity, but only implied that 
he wore the cross upon his back as a crusader. 

14. Archbishop Arundel then stepped forward and led 
Henry to the throne, on which, after a brief prayer, he 
took his seat amid general applause. The Parliament 
then dissolved after having sat a single day. As it had 
been summoned in Richard's name, its authority expired 
with his. Neither Parliament, judges, nor officers of any 
kind throughout England had any authority now till the 
new King had renewed their commissions. But Henry 
summoned the same Parliament to meet again six days 
afterwards, appointed new officers of the crown, and then 
withdrew to his palace. 

15. So ended the unhappy reign of Richard H., a 
prince who had certainly very little natural capacity to 
govern, and who, called to the throne in boyhood, could 
never be placed under such tuition as would have brought 
out the little capacity he had. It was the desire of the 
nation itself during his minority to emancipate him as 
much as possible from the control of his natural protector 
John of Gaunt; but when, yielding to this influence, he 
chose his own advisers, there rose up a cry that he was 
misled by favorites and abandoned himself entirely to 
the counsels of young men. These complaints, which, 
after all, were not altogether true, served the purpose of 
the factious Duke of Gloucester, and enabled him to 
establish for a time a despotism quite as odious and as 
absolute as any that an anointed king could have at- 
tained to. It was terminated, apparently, to the general 
satisfaction, by an act of self-assertion on Richard's own 
part, when he came of age; and for some years after 



1 399. The King and Henry of Lancaster. 6 1 

things went pretty smoothly. But as new dangers crossed 
his path he grew more arbitrary, imperious, and unjust. 
He met intrigue by treachery, put his troublesome uncle 
to death without a trial, extorted money from his subjects 
by forced loans, and by his own kingly authority perverted 
law and justice. Yet it may be questioned whether he 
was at heart the cruel and vindictive character he is 
often represented to have been. He was undoubtedly 
a man of very sensitive feelings, a most devoted husband, 
and apparently to his true friends steadfast, as far as his 
power would reach. But it was a question through the 
whole reign whether the kingly power was to be treated 
as a reality or as a fiction, and Richard, who was of an 
angry and passionate temper, was not the man to use 
any power entrusted to him with discretion. 

16. In personal appearance he was handsome. There 
was a delicate beauty in his features which corresponded 
with a mode of life too luxurious for the age. He was a 
lover both of art and literature, the patron of Froissart, 
Gower, and Chaucer, and the builder of Westminster 
Hall. But he was thought too fond of show and mag- 
nificence, and some of his contemporaries accused him 
of too great love of pleasure. Yet of positive immorality 
we have no real evidence, and his devotion and tender- 
ness to both his queens (child as the second was) is a 
considerable presumption to the contrary. And as re- 
gards the expenses of his household, it does not appear 
that he was led on this account to tax his people im- 
moderately. His ruin was simply owing to despotic and 
arbitrary measures — not in any way to pecuniary burdens 
that he inflicted on the nation. 



62 Literature and Science. CH. iii. 

CHAPTER III. 

LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 

I. The reign of Richard II. is an interesting period in 
English literature. Before that time there was, strictly 
speaking, hardly any English literature at all. There 
were, indeed, ballads and some rhyming chronicles in 
English, but all serious authors wrote in Latin. An 
author who desired many readers naturally preferred to 
use a language which was understood over all Europe. 
A courtly author, or one who aimed at refinement, would 
rather have written in French than in English; for 
French was the language of the King's court and also 
of the courts of law. Besides, the English spoken in 
one part of the country was so unlike the language cur- 
rent in another part, that an author writing in English 
could not have spoken to the whole people. But by this 
time Englishmen had begun to write in English for 
serious purposes. It was, apparently, in the latter part 
of the reign of Edward III. that a religious poet, whose 
name is believed to have been William Langland, wrote 
a remarkable allegorical work called "The Vision of 
Piers Plowman." A little later, Wycliffe translated the 
Wycliffe's Bible into English for the use of the un- 
Bibie. learned. The influence of this latter work 

was extraordinary. It created throughout the land a 
much stronger sense of the reality of religious truth; 
and it placed in the hands of the common people a rich 
and suggestive literature, full of inexhaustible material 
for thought and reflection. 

2. A native literature naturally grew up in the wake 
of such a book. The learned began to write for the 
people in their own tongue. Wycliffe himself wrote 



1 3 9 9 • Literature and Science. 6 3 

several treatises in English. The poet Chaucer, too, 
and his brother poet Gower, wrote for amusement or 
edification, tales, poems, and prose compositions in 
English. Chaucer especially was a poet of the people ; 
his English compositions are very numerous, 

1-1 T 1 •• r ■, Chaucer. 

and notwithstandmg the antiquity of the 
language, are read with a living interest at this day. His 
mind is typical of the nation in its breadth and cultiva- 
tion. While describing with intense enjoyment the 
humors of the road and of the tavern, he nevertheless 
paid the highest honor to the knight's ideal of chivalry 
and the parson's ideal of godliness. He looked into all 
the science and philosophy of the day, and expounded 
them in the vulgar speech. He wrote a book on 
astronomy for his little son Lewis. He translated from 
the French the poem, so popular upon the Continent, 
called the "Romaunt of the Rose," and he adapted 
tales from the Italian of Petrarch and Boccaccio, authors 
who lived in his own day, and one of whom he is sup- 
posed personally to have known. His best known work 
is the "Canterbury Tales," in which he describes a 
pilgrimage, such as was common in those days, to the 
shrine of St. Thomas d Becket at Canterbury. Persons 
who had been ill used to make vows to visit that shrine 
on their recovery ; and Chaucer represents about thirty 
pilgrims starting from the Tabard Inn in Southwark and 
telling stories, each in his turn, to amuse them on the 
way. 

3. Chaucer was a man who had seen much of the 
world. He had fought in the wars of Edward III. in 
France, and had been some time a prisoner. He had 
visited Italy. He had been sent on embassies. He was 
patronized by John of Gaunt and was attached to the 
royal household. In 1386 he sat in Parliament — in that 



64 Literature and Science, ch. in. 

parliament in which Michael do la Pole was indicted ; 
but what part he took in the proceedings we cannot say. 
When the commission of regency was instituted he was 
dismissed from the office of controller of Customs in 
London which had been granted to him by the Crown. 
But with some changes of fortune Chaucer generally re- 
mained in favor at Court, not only under Edward III. 
and Richard 11. , but also under Henry IV., in the be- 
ginning of whose reign he died. 

4. The other poet of the day, John Gower, was Chau- 
cer's personal friend, and was, like him, patronized by 

g ^^ John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. " Moral 

Gower " he was called by Chaucer, and the 
name was most appropriate. In all he wrote he was 
perpetually moralizing. His principal works were three, 
entitled respectively, " Speculum Meditantis,'* " Vox 
Clamantis," and " Confessio Amantis " (the Mirror of one 
Meditating, the Voice of one Crying, and the Confession 
of a Lover). The first of these poems was written in 
French and does not appear now to be extant. The 
second was written in Latin on the subject of Wat 
Tyler's rebellion. The third was written in English, in 
his old age, in obedience to a command of Richard II., 
who one day invited the poet into his barge and desired 
that he would dedicate some composition to him. He 
accordingly produced a long poem on the subject of 
love, which he made the vehicle of a multitude of tales 
and reflections. But the book was not dedicated to 
King Richard after all, or rather that dedication was 
withdrawn ; for John Gower, who was what Dr. Johnson 
called "a good hater," was completely alienated from his 
sovereign in the latter part of his reign, and he presented 
the completed labor to Henry of Lancaster. Gower also 
wrote a political poem called a "Tripartite Chronicle," 




7 ^99- Literature and Science. 65 

in honor of the revolution which placed Henry IV. 
upon the throne, in which he very severely reviewed the 
whole government of Richard II., calhng it " a work of 
fiell," and extolling his dethronement and the accession 
of Henry as " a work in Christ." 

5. Wycliffe died on the last day of the year 1384, 
three years after Wat Tyler's rebellion, and two years 
before the impeachment of the Duke of Suffolk. His 
name must always be chiefly associated in our minds 
with the translation of the Bible and the doctrine pro- 
mulgated by himself and his followers. For it was 
through that work that he exerted so powerful an influ- 
ence on the succeeding age, and to it his followers, who 
were commonly called Lollards, continu- ^^^ ^ ,, 
ally appealed in proof of their favorite 

tenets. But there is another aspect in which Wycliffe 
may be regarded. He was the last of what are com- 
monly called the great Schoolmen — distinguished philo- 
sophers, who, during the Middle Ages, upheld and pro- 
mulgated at the universities new systems of thought, 
which they themselves had introduced. Such were, in 
former days, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Roger 
Bacon, and a number of others, whose teaching at the 
universities was celebrated throughout the world. And 
even after Wycliffe's day there were schoolmen of high 
celebrity, such as his great theological opponent Thomas 
Netter of Walden, who was esteemed the prince of con- 
troversialists. But there was no schoolman after Wy- 
cliffe who could be regarded as the originator of the 
philosophy which he defended in the schools. He was 
the last who had a system of his own. 

6. His followers increased rapidly in England, and, 
partly perhaps in consequence of the intercourse with 
Bohemia created by Richard's first marriage, his doc- 



66 Literature and Science. ch. iil 

trines found a large amount of favor in that country also. 
Of this we shall have occasion to take notice hereafter. 
In other countries the opinions of Wycliffe do not appear 
to have produced any perceptible effect. 

7. The whole learning of the age was contained in the 
writings of these schoolmen ; yet they had done little or 

Learning and nothing to advance that which forms so great 
science. 3^ study in our own day — natural science. 

Some, like Roger Bacon, had made a remarkable number 
of experiments and pushed their inquiries into nature as 
well as into logic and mathematics, but nothing had yet 
been done to classify the results of repeated observations. 
The virtues of particular herbs were known, but botany 
had not yet been heard of, still less geology or mineralogy. 
Of chemistry there was no real knowledge, but experi- 
ments were made in a kind of spurious science called 
alchemy, by which it was supposed that a process might 
one day be discovered of transmuting other substances 
into gold. Of astronomy, in like manner, nothing was 
truly known, but there was a good deal of misdirected 
observation of astronomical facts, from the supposition 
that a man's fortune in life was influenced by the position 
of the planets at the time of his birth. Astrology, how- 
ever, did teach men to observe before the day of true 
science came. 

8. That the earth itself was a planet no one had any 
idea. It was believed to be the centre of the universe, 
round which the heavens revolved with all their hosts, 
the sun, moon, and planets making special circuits of 
their own. Wise men did indeed believe the earth to be 
a sphere, but no one had hitherto thought of attempting 
to reach the other side of it. Nothing was known of any 
lands west of the Atlantic or south of Central Africa ; 
while the most remote country to the east was the distant 



1399- ^^^ Revolution Completed. 67 

Cathay or China, which had been visited by the great 
traveller Sir John Mandeville in the days of Edward III, 
Very little, however, was known of any part of Asia. The- 
Genoese and Venetian merchants could extend their 
commerce no further than the Black Sea and the river 
Don, and the world which lay beyond excited very little 
interest. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HENRY IV. 

I. The Revolution Completed — Invasion of Scotland. 

I. The reign of Richard 11. was a series of reactions, in 
which each successive revolution undid the work of the 
last revolution and confirmed anew that of a 

A. D. 1399. 

former one. A new reign and a new dynasty 
had now begun, with a King who was not fitful, weak, or 
passionate, and who was not likely to suffer mob-law or 
confederacies to gain the upper hand with him. But the 
case was still the same as heretofore ; the first act of the 
new revolution was necessarily the annulling of the last. 
Parliament accordingly declared null and -pjig ^^^ ^evo- 
void the whole proceedings of the Parliament lotion. 
of Shrewsbury, and confirmed again those of the Won- 
derful Parliament which the Parliament of Shrewsbury 
had declared null. The judgments upon the Duke of 
Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick were 
reversed, and those who had been accessory to the pro- 
ceedings against the duke were called to account for their 
conduct. They one and all gave it as an excuse that 
they had acted under compulsion, and laid the blame 
upon the deposed King. On this a stormy scene took 
place. Lord Fitzwalter maintained that the Duke of 



68 Henry IV. ch. iv. 

Albemarle's excuse was untrue, and offered to prove it so 
in combat. Lord Morley in like manner gave the Earl 
of Salisbury the lie. Other lords joined and threw down 
their gauntlets or their hoods as gages of the combat. 
No less than twenty pledges were thrown in support of 
the charge against Albemarle, and no one took his part 
except the Duke of Surrey. The gages, however, were 
given into the custody of the Constable and Marshal of 
England until the King should appoint a day of trial ; 
and meanwhile it was adjudged in Parliament that the 
lords who had appealed the Duke of Gloucester should 
be deprived of the dignities that had been conferred upon 
them after his death. Albemarle, Surrey, and Exeter 
were to be no longer dukes, but as they had been before, 
Earls of Rutland, Kent, and Huntingdon. John Beau- 
fort, Marquis of Dorset, was to be no longer a marquis, 
and Spenser, Earl of Gloucester, was to lose his title 
entirely. Not a few were dissatisfied that they did not 
lose their heads as well. 

2. But it was very necessary on all accounts that 
matters should not be pushed to extremity. Severe 
justice would not have suited the new King's policy, and 
appeals of treason which had already been the cause of 
so many revolutions threatened to make the 
treason peace of the kingdom hopeless forever. An 

mitigated. ^^^ ^^^ accordingly passed to mitigate the 
evil by forbidding such appeals in Parliament. All trea- 
sons done within the realm were henceforth to be tried 
by law ; and where the crime was alleged to have been 
done abroad, the appeal was to be tried by the Constable 
and Marshal of England. At the same time the guilt of 
treason was limited to offences that had been recognized 
as such by statute. It was also remembered that there 
had been arbitrary measures during the late reign which 



I400. The Revolution Completed. 69 

were not due to Richard himself. The shameful statute 
of the Merciless Parliament, making it treason in any- 
one to attempt to procure the repeal of its enactments, 
was annulled. Government by terror was henceforth 
to be disused. But the Commons were by no means 
invariably successful in obtaining redress for past abuses. 
When they petitioned for repayment of Richard's forced 
loans, and for remission of the heavy penalties incurred 
by the judges who had been so cruelly fined and ban- 
ished for supporting Richard's prerogative, their re- 
quests were politely refused, with the answer, Le Roy 
s'avzsera. 

3. As to the late King Richard himself, he was now 
a subject, and had been publicly declared in Parliament 
guilty of serious misconduct. What was to ^, ^ 

'=> ■> The deposed 

be done with him ? A deputation of lords. King 
with the Archbishop of Canterbury at their 
head, urged the King to put him to death, but Henry 
firmly refused to do so. Still, as he was no longer a 
sovereign, he was amenable to the judgment of the King 
and Parliament ; so it was decreed that he should be 
imprisoned for life, and Henry shut him up in the castle 
of Pomfret. 

4. But not many months passed away before the King 
received intelligence of a formidable conspiracy against 
him in Richard's favor. It was formed by ^ 

Conspiracy 

the degraded peers, Rutland, Kent, and in his 
Huntingdon, who had been formerly dukes, 
and Lord Spenser, formerly Earl of Gloucester, with the 
Earl of Salisbury and some other noblemen, including 
the Bishop of Carlisle, who had always been a staunch 
friend to Richard. These all dined together in the 
chambers of the Abbot of Westminster a few days be- 
fore Christmas, and set their seals to certain indentures 



70 Henry IV. CH. iv. 

promising to be faithful to one another in what they were 
A. D. 1400. to undertake. On Sunday, the 4th of Jan- 
January 4. uary, they made an attempt to surprise the 
King at Windsor ; but one of their number had already 
betrayed the secret, and Henry had escaped to London, 
The traitor was the Earl of Rutland, formerly Duke of 
Albemarle, who had before shamefully abandoned Rich- 
ard in the day of his adversity. The others, finding 
that the King was gone, very naturally took alarm. 
They, however, visited Richard's Queen at Sonning, 
near Reading, and passed on westward to Cirencester, 
proclaiming King Richard as they went along. But the 
mayor summoned the country people, attacked them in 
the middle of the night, and after some hours' fighting 
compelled them to surrender. The Earls of Kent and 
Salisbury were beheaded by the people ; Lord Spenser 
met with the same fate from the inhabitants of Bristol ; 
and the Earl of Huntingdon, who, apart from his con- 
federates, had awaited the issue of the affair at London, 
having fled into the county of Essex, was taken and be- 
headed at Fleshy, the mansion of the murdered Duke of 
Gloucester. 

5, Every one of these executions was an act of sum- 
mary justice, the people taking the law into their own 
hands as they had done under Wat Tyler. But mob law, 
perhaps, was not displeasing to Henry when it tended 
to the suppression of rebellion. He was unquestionably 
popular with the masses, who believed that he had been 
a victim of political perfidy in the preceding reign, and 
they warmly took his part against any attempt to bring 
back the detested tyrant of whose exactions they had 
formerly stood in dread. Indeed, Henry himself, after 
this, seems to have dismissed the scruples he had before 
professed to entertain about putting his rival to death. 



I400. The Revolution Completed, 71 

It would be rash, perhaps, to say that he distinctly au- 
thorized his murder ; but it appears pretty evident that 
he was no longer careful to preserve his life. Within 
little more than a month after the rising, 
Richard died in his prison. It was pre- Ri\;har?ii. 
tended by some that on hearing of the 
failure of the conspiracy he wilfully starved himself to 
death ; but there is not a little reason to suspect that he 
was starved by his keepers. Another story, however, got 
abroad that he was assassinated by Sir Piers Exton. What- 
ever may have been the mode of death, his body was sent 
up to London and exposed to public view, with the face 
uncovered from the forehead downwards. Funeral rites, 
attended by the King himself, were celebrated for him at 
St. Paul's, and he was buried at Langley. In the next reign 
the body was removed by order of Henry V. to West- 
minster, and was buried among the kings of England. 
6. Just after the death of Richard, Henry found him- 
self at war with Scotland. A Scottish nobleman, the 
Earl of March, disappointed of a hope held out to him 
by the Scotch king of marrying his daughter to the heir- 
apparent, and smarting besides from other injuries, had 
fled from his country and taken refuge with the Earl of 
Northumberland in England. From the English Border 
he made inroads into Scotland, devastating the lands 
of his great rival the Earl Douglas, and King Robert III. 
made application to Henry for his surrender as a traitor. 
But Henry determined to anticipate the hostile measures 
of the Scots, and after renewing the old claims of his 
predecessors by summoning King Robert to come and do 
him homage as his vassal, marched an army Henry 
across the Borders and invaded the northern scotknd 
kingdom in person. The Scots, however, 
pursuing their usual policy, retired as he advanced ; and 



72 



Henry IV. 



CH. IV. 



Henry marched on to Edinburgh without opposition. 
He laid siege to Edinburgh Castle, which was in the 
hands of the King's son, the Duke of Rothesay. An army 
under the Duke of Albany, the King's brother, who had 
been made governor of the kingdom, lay at some dis- 
tance, ready to come to the rescue if occasion should 
require it ; but the Scots trusted to famine to compel the 
English to withdraw, and left them unattacked. This 
policy proved successful ; after a short time Henry found 
it necessary to raise the siege of Edinburgh Castle and 
return home. The expedition in one sense was a failure ; 
but Henry had at least impressed the Scots with a sense 
of his warlike character. What is still more to his credit, 
he impressed them with a sense of his humanity by pro- 
tecting the unoffending inhabitants from violence and 
outrage, a moderation of which former wars afforded 
them no experience. 

n. Eastern Affairs. 

I. When Henry had been a year upon the throne he 
received a visit from the Emperor of Constantinople, 

Manuel Palaeologus, who had traversed Eu- 
ofCons?anti°'^ ropc seeking aid from Christian princes 
fa°ifd^ '" ^"^' against the Turks. The event was of a 

character quite unprecedented, and exci- 
ted a remarkable degree of interest. The Eastern po- 
tentate was met by the King at Blackheath and con- 
ducted with peculiar honors into London, where he was 
magnificently entertained for the space of two or three 
months. The project of a crusade to the Holy Land 
was quite of a character to recommmend itself to Henry, 
for he was deeply imbued with the notions of Christian 
chivalry. Even before he came to the throne, when he 
was only Earl of Derby, he had gone like Chaucer's 



T400. Eastern Affairs. 73 

knight, against the infidels of Lithuania, and he doubt- 
less regarded a visit to the Holy Land as the best atone- 
ment he could make for sin. But there were special cir- 
cumstances at this time which drew the attention of Eu- 
rope towards the East more than had been the case 
since the great days of the Crusades. The cause of the 
Greek emperor who was Henry's guest was the cause of 
Christianity in the East ; and never had the prospects 
of Christianity been a subject of so much anxiety. The 
dominions of the Turk already covered the greater por- 
tion of the territory that they do at the present day, 
while Constantinople itself was now all that remained of 
the once powerful Eastern empire. Yet even Constan- 
tinople had been besieged, and though not entirely won, 
a suburb had been actually given up to the enemy. 
Unless European princes would combine, a Christian 
empire in the East was a thing that could not live much 
longer. 

2. The Sultan by whose extraordinary energy these 
results had come about was Bajazet, the first of that 
name, appropriately surnamed Ilderim, or ,,. 

^ ^ ^ •' ^ _ Victorious ca- 

the Lightning. From the begmnmg of his reer of the Sui- 
reign in 1389 he had been continually mov- ^^ ^■'^^^ " 
ing about at the head of armies, and men were amazed 
at the rapidity with which he passed and repassed be- 
tween Europe and Asia, subduing petty Mahometan 
princes, or making war on the confines of Hungary 
against armies in which were gathered the flower of 
Christendom. In 1396 he had defeated at Nicopolis an 
army of 100,000 men under Sigismund, King of Hun- 
gary, who by an appeal to Europe had gathered to his 
standard many of the bravest knights in Germany and 
France. The greater part of that magnificent army was 
cut to pieces or driven into the Danube ; of the prisoners 



74 Henry IV. ' ch. iv. 

taken, all but twenty-four nobles were put to death ; and 
Sigismund himself, having escaped by water to Constan- 
tinople, only returned to Hungary after a long and peril- 
ous circuit. 

3. But there was another great conqueror in Asia 
whose achievements eclipsed even those of Bajazet ; and 
while Manuel was making fruitless appeals to the princes 
of Western Europe, Constantinople was saved from cap- 
Tamerlane ^urc by a Mahometan. Timour, commonly 
the Tartar, called Tamerlane, a native of Central Asia, 
was by birth a Tartar, but a descendant of the great 
Mongol emperor Genghis Khan, the traditions of whose 
power and greatness he was ambitious to revive. With 
a mind highly cultivated in many respects, he was not 
neglectful of those practices by which Eastern despots 
knew how to inspire respect. As monuments of his vic- 
tories he would leave behind him pyramids of human 
heads. From his native district, not far South of Samar- 
cand, he extended his dominions first on the side of 
Persia, which he completely annexed to his rule. He 
then carried his arms into Eastern and Western Tartary, 
and made inroads into Russia nearly as far as Moscow ; 
after which he crossed the Indus, captured Delhi, and 
overran the Northeastern provinces of India about the 
time that Henry IV. was ejecting Richard from the 
throne of England. But from India he was drawn towards 
Georgia and the shores of the Black Sea by jealousy of 
the increasing power of Bajazet, He did not, however, 
at once come into open conflict with his rival. He made 
the Christians of Georgia tributary, took Sivas on the 
borders of Anatolia, then marched southwards, intend- 
ing to make war upon the Mamelukes in Egypt ; but 
after the capture and destruction of Aleppo and Damas- 
cus he changed his plan, returned to the Euphrates, laid 



I402. Eastern Affairs. 75 

Bagdad in ruins, and erected upon its site a pyramid of 
90,000 heads. 

4. He now marched against Bajazet with an army of 
80,000 men, to which his rival could oppose but half the 
number. The two great conquerors met at ^ , , 

° ^ Battle of 

Angora in Asia Minor, where the army of Angora, 
Bajazet was completely overthrown and '^^'^^' 
himself taken prisoner. A curious story is told of the 
interview which took place after the battle between the 
captive Sultan and his conqueror. Timour was lame from 
a wound in the thigh received in one of his early battles. 
Bajazet was blind. On seeing his prisoner, Timour, it is 
said, could not refrain from laughing. " Surely," he re- 
marked, " God does not hold the empires of this world 
in very high estimation when he commits them to a blind 
man like you and a lame one like myself! " 

5. There is a great deal of uncertainty as to many par- 
ticulars connected with this victory. Accounts vary very 
much as to the day and month and even as to the year 
when the battle was fought ; but the most critical opinion 
seems to be that it was on July 28, 1402. The Emperor 
of Constantinople, who took his leave of the King of 
England and returned to the Continent in the spring of 
the preceding year, could scarcely have anticipated this 
good news ; but it is said that he had heard some en- 
couraging rumors before he left of successes in the East 
against the infidels and of the conversion of a large 
number of pagans to Christianity. There is no doubt, 
however, that the defeat of blind Bajazet by the limping 
Tamerlane was an immense relief to Europe. The Tar- 
tar despot was looked upon as if he were almost a Chris- 
tian prince, and so highly was his victory esteemed that 
even Henry IV. wrote to him from England to congratu- 
late him. 



76 Henry IV. ch. iv. 

III. Owen Glendower' s Rebellion and the Battle of 
Shrewsbury . 

1. At home, however, Henry was troubled with con- 
spiracies and rebellions from the very commencement of 
his reign ; nor did the death of his rival Richard render 
them less frequent. Not long after that event a rumor 

got abroad that Richard was still alive and 
spread that was in Scotland. It seems that he had a 
Richard is chaplain who resembled him in features, 
still ahve. ^^^ rnany affected to believe that the body 
shown as his was not really that of the deposed King. 
This shadow of King Richard was more troublesome to 
Henry than Richard himself could have been if he had 
lived. Repeated proclamations were issued against the 
dissemination of false news, but the reports were still 
propagated, and a man said to be Richard II. was main- 
tained at the Court of Scotland to give England trouble. 
The rumor in fact was very readily listened to by many, 
and was found a very excellent means for nursing dis- 
affection. Henry required the most incessant watchful- 
ness and policy to guard himself against these intrigues. 
Even his own palace was not secure against a secret 
enemy. In 1401 an iron with three spikes was laid in 
the King's bed. In 1402 a bastard son of the Black 
Prince named Sir Roger Clarendon and nine Franciscan 
friars were put to death for declaring that Richard was 
alive. And in the same year broke out the formidable 
rebellion of Owen Glendower in Wales. 

2. Since the day when it was conquered by Edward L 
Wales had given the kings of England very little trouble. 
The Welsh remained loyal to the son and grandson of 
their conqueror, and were the most devoted friends of 
Richard II., even when he had lost the hearts of his 



i4oi. Owen Glendower' s Rebellion. 77 

English subjects. But on the usurpation of ^^ j^^^ 
Henry their alleeriance seems to have been Owen Glen- 

^ ° dower s 

shaken : and Owen Glendower, who was de- rebellion. 
scended from Llewelyn, the last native prince of Wales, 
laid claim to the sovereignty of the country. He rav- 
aged the territory of Lord Grey of Ruthin, and took him 
prisoner near Snowdon ; then, turning southwards, over- 
ran Herefordshire and defeated and took prisoner Sir 
Edmund Mortimer, uncle to that young Earl of March, 
who should have been heir to the crown after Richard 
according to the true order of descent. In this battle 
upwards of a thousand Englishmen were slain, and such 
was the fierce barbarity of the victors that even the 
women of Wales mutilated the dead bodies in a manner 
too gross to be described, and left them unburied upon 
the field till heavy sums were paid for their interment. 
3. It was necessary to put down this revolt of Glen- 
dower, and the King collected an army and went against 
him in person. It was the beginning of September ; but 
owing, as the people thought, to magical arts and en- 
chantments practised by the Welshman, the army suf- 
fered dreadfully from tempests of wind, rain, snow, and 
hail before it could reach the enemy. In one night the 
King's tent was blown down, and he himself would have 
been killed if he had not retired to rest with his armor 
on. Finally the enterprise had to be abandoned. The 
Scots, meanwhile, thinking it a good opportunity to re- 
quite the King of England for his invasion of their 
country while his forces were engaged against the Welsh, 
made an irruption into Northumberland. They were, 
however, pursued on their retreat by the 
Earl of Northumberland and his son Henry Battle'of " 
Percy, commonly named Hotspur, who jjursept 14 
compelled them to come to an engagement 



78 Henry IV. CH. iv. 

at Homildon Hill near Wooler, when they were put 
to flight and their leader the Earl Douglas was taken 
prisoner. 

4. This success might have seemed a slight compen- 
sation for the failure of the expedition against Glen- 
dower; but unfortunately the victors at Homildon Hill 
at this time found cause of offence with Henry. Of the 
two distinguished prisoners in Wales, the Lord Grey of 
Ruthin was ransomed by his friends for a sum of 10,000 
marks ; but when the kinsmen of Sir Edmund Morti- 
mer proposed to ransom him, the King expressly 
forbade them. He pretended that Mortimer had shown 
symptoms of disaffection, and had given himself up a 
willing prisoner to the King's enemies. The truth was, 
the young Earl of March was in the King's keeping, 
and Henry was not sorry that the only relation who 
could do much to advance his pretensions to the throne 
should be in the keeping of Owen Glendower. But this 
injustice only served to alienate some who had been the 
King's friends hitherto, among whom was Harry Hot- 
spur ; for Hotspur had married Mortimer's sister. He 
entered into a secret understanding with the Welsh 
prince, and drew into the conspiracy his father, the Earl 
of Northumberland, and his uncle, Thomas Percy, Earl 
of Worcester. 

5. It was a strange revolt, seeing that the Percys had 
been greatly instrumental to Henry's success against 
Richard. The reader, no doubt, has not forgotten the 
part taken by the Earl of Northumberland in bringing 
the deposed King into Henry's power; and Henry for 
his part exhibited such marks of confidence that he had 
committed to the Earl of Worcester the care of his son 
Henry, Prince of Wales. But Worcester sud- 

A. D. 1403. ■' 

denly withdrew himself from Court and joined 



1403. Owen Glendower' s Rebellion. 79 

his nephew in the north, where they pubhshed mani- 
festoes still pretending loyalty, professing that they had 
only been driven to take up arms in self-defence, as 
there were certain abuses which required reform, but 
owing to prejudices raised against them in the King's 
mind by their personal enemies, they dared not visit 
him. The King endeavored to meet this by an offer of 
safe-conduct to Worcester and others to come to him 
and return freely ; but instead of doing so, he and his 
nephew hastened towards Wales to join Glendower, 
spreading reports as they went that King Richard was 
alive and that they had taken up arms in his cause. 
The Percys had set their prisoner the Earl Douglas free, 
and expected that Owen Glendower would do the like 
to his prisoner, Sir Edmund Mortimer, and that they 
would all unite their forces against Henry. But the 
King was not unprepared, and having gathered a suf- 
ficient force, intercepted the march of the Percys at 
Shrewsbury. A very fierce and bloody ^ ^ 
battle took place, in which Hotspur was Battle of 
killed, the Earl Douglas again taken July 21. 
prisoner, and the insurgents utterly defeated. The Earl 
of Worcester was beheaded at Shrewsbury after the 
fight, and Northumberland, who had not yet openly 
joined the rebels, on marching southwards, was stopped 
by an army under the Earl of Westmoreland, and with- 
drew again into the north. The King afterwards coming 
to York commanded Northumberland to meet him, and 
ordered him into confinement for life as a traitor ; but a 
few months later the earl obtained a full pardon, and his 
attainder was reversed in Parliament. 

6. Thus by a hard-won victory Henry had preserved 
himself upon a throne which he had acquired by intrigue 
and usurpation. But rebellion was not at an end. Glen- 



8o Henry IV. CH. iv. 

dower continued as troublesome as ever, and the King 
was unable from various causes to make much progress 
against him. At one time money could not easily be 
raised for the expedition. At another time, when he 
actually marched into the borders of Wales, 

A. D. 1405. ^ 

his advance was again impeded by the ele- 
ments. The rivers swelled to an unusual extent, and 
the army lost a great part of its baggage by the sudden- 
ness of the inundation. The French, too, sent assist- 
ance to Glendower, and took Carmarthen Castle. Some 
time afterwards the King's son, Henry, Prince of Wales, 

succeeded in taking the castle of Aberyst- 

A. D. 1407. ° ^11 

with ; but very soon after Owen Glendower 
recovered it by stealth. In short, the Welsh succeeded 
in maintaining their independence of England during 
this whole reign, and Owen Glendower ultimately got 
leave to die in peace. 

7. Another source of danger to Henry was the young 
Earl of March, whom he kept in prison. Many sympa- 
thized with his cause and resented the treatment of a 
prince whose natural claim to the throne was much 
better than that of Henry himself. So by the aid of 
A. D. 1405. friends who procured forged keys, he and 
February. \^^^ brother made their escape from Windsor 
Castle where they were confined ; but they were soon 
recaptured. New confederacies again sprang up in the 
Another rising north, to which, notwithstanding his pardon, 
in the North. ^^ Y.2ix\ of Northumberland became a party. 
His associates were Mowbray the Earl Marshal, who 
was the son of Henry's old rival the Duke of Norfolk, 
the Lord Bardolf, and Richard Scroop, Archbishop of 
York. This archbishop, a man much beloved by the 
people, was brother to one of King Richard's favorites 
— the Earl of Wiltshire, whom Henry had put to death 



1404- Capture of Prince James of Scotland. 8i 

at Bristol. His dislike of Henry's government was 
undisguised ; for he had accused the King of perjury 
and treason to King Richard, and had advocated the 
claims of the Earl of March. The confederates caused 
manifestoes to be set on the doors of churches and 
monasteries, and a considerable body of men gathered 
to their standard in Yorkshire. But the Archbishop and 
the Earl Marshal were entrapped into a conference with 
the Earl of Westmoreland, and were taken and be- 
headed at York. The former was venerated by the 
people as a martyr, and pilgrimages began to be made 
to his tomb, but were very speedily put down by order 
of the King. The Earl of Northumberland retired for a 
time into Scotland, but afterwards fled with Lord Bardolf 
into Wales ; from which country, two years after, these 
two noblemen escaped and raised an unsuc- 
cessful rebellion in Yorkshire. The earl 
was killed in battle and his head was stuck upon London 
Bridge. The Lord Bardolf was taken in the same fight, 
mortally wounded. 

IV. Capture of Prince James of Scotland. 

I. Amid commotions such as these, nearly the whole 
reign of Henry IV. was spent. The intervals were few 
in which " frighted peace " could find a time 

To pant, 
And breathe short-winded accents of new broils.* 

However popular may have been Henry's usurpation, 
however arbitrary and tyrannical the government of his 
predecessor, the power of the Crown had been weakened 
by the fact of a usurpation having taken place. And 

* Shakespeare's "Henry TV.," Part I. 
G 



82 Henry IV. ch. iv. 

young as Henry was when he assumed the crown — for 
he was exactly the same age as his cousin Richard 
whom he displaced — these repeated rebellions overtaxed 
his energies and wore out his strength prematurely. 
They also compelled him, much against his will, to 
make continual application to Parliament for supplies, 
which were often grudgingly and insufficiently conceded. 
Heavy taxa- ^^ extraordinary subsidy was granted to 
tion. \x\Ta. by the Parliament which met in the 

beginning of the year 1404, in which every one who held 
lands of the value of twenty shillings and upwards was 
charged a shilling in the pound on the annual value. 
But this concession was made with a special request that 
it might not be drawn into a precedent, and with the 
very peculiar stipulation that the records of the receipt 
of the money might be destroyed as soon as it was 
gathered in. Yet the proceeds of the tax proved quite 
inadequate to meet the pressing wants of the King's 
exchequer; and in October of the very same year 
another Parliament was called, to meet at Coventry. 
This Parliament, owing to the mode in which it was 
elected, and possibly by the character of some of its 
proposals, gained for itself the name of the Lack-learn- 
ing Parliament. A clause was inserted in the writs of 
summons, requiring that no lawyer should be returned 
in any county as knight of the shire. When the ques- 
tion of supply came before the Commons it was thought 
that the readiest way to relieve an overtaxed people was 
to throw the burdens of the nation upon the clergy, and 
a general confiscation of the property of the Church was 
seriously recommended. This brought about a collision 
between the two Houses ; but the Chancellor, Arch- 
bishop Arundel, altogether confuted the arguments in 
which the Speaker of the House of Commons endea- 



1404. Capture of Frince James of Scotland. ^^^ 

vored to show that the clergy did not contribute their 
fair share to the national burdens, and the proposal had 
to be abandoned. Two tenths and two fifteenths were 
then voted in its place. 

2. To strengthen himself on his unsteady throne, 
Henry courted alliances with foreign princes by mar- 
riage and other means. Soon after the be- 
ginning of his reign, he himself, being then AlHances. 

a widower, married Joan of Navarre, widow 
of Simon de Montfort, Duke of Brittany. He had 
already, by his former wife Mary de Bohun, four sons 
and two daughters ; and he married his eldest daughter 
Blanche to Lewis of Bavaria, eldest son of the Emperor 
Rupert, in the very same year in which he himself 
took a second wife. Some time afterward he married 
his second daughter Philippa to Eric IX., King of 
Denmark. 

3. But fortune threw into Henry's hands an advan- 
tage to which he could not have attained by mere diplo- 
macy. Of all the foreign powers whose enmity he had 
to fear, Scotland, though certainly one of the least, 
might have given him the most annoyance. It was 
Scotland that harbored the false King Richard, and 
which received with open arms the Earl of Northumber- 
land and other Englishmen whenever they were disaf- 
fected towards their sovereign. Yet the only security 
against Scotland hitherto lay in the doubtful fidelity of 
the northern lords, — men like Northumberland himself or 
Westmoreland, unscrupulous and changeable, who feel- 
ing themselves masters of the situation, fought for their 
sovereign or conspired against him as they pleased. But 
in the year 1405 an incident occurred which at once re- 
lieved Henry of all anxiety about the Scots for the re- 
mainder of his days. 



84 Henry IV. ch. iv. 

4. Scotland at this time was in a deplorable condition. 
Robert III., who is characterized by historians as a well- 
intentioned king, was singularly devoid of 

Scotland. t^ i r a n 

energy. His brother, the Duke of Albany, 
whom he himself had named as governor, secretly as- 
pired to the succession, but the King relied upon him 
with a blind confidence. David, Duke of Rothesay, the 
heir apparent, was a dissolute, licentious prince, and his 
intrigues with married ladies occasioned so much scan- 
dal that the King thought proper to commit him to the 
keeping of his uncle. Albany imprisoned theyoung man 

in his own castle at Falkland in Fife, where 

A. D. 140I. 

he was miserably starved to death in a dun- 
geon. It is said that two women for some days protracted 
his unhappy life ; the one by covertly passing through 
the narrow window of his cell supplies of oatmeal cakes ; 
the other, a country nurse, by conveying milk from her 
breast to his mouth through a tube. But they were both 
detected and put to death. The poor King was over- 
whelmed with grief at the news of his son's murder, but 
Albany had a plausible story to lay the guilt on others, 
and was too powerful to be brought to justice. All that 
the King could do was to provide for the safety of his 
second son James ; and on taking advice of such as he 
believed trustworthy, he resolved to send him to France 

to be educated at the court of Charles VI. 

Accompanied by one or two Scotch noble- 
men, the young prince set sail from the Bass rock at the 
mouth of the Frith of Forth. On his passage he came 
near the English coast, or, as some say, was driven to 

land. Notwithstanding that a truce then 
ffSilnd^^ existed between the two realms, he was 
En^lsh^^^^ taken by some Norfolk sailors and brought 

to Henry, who seeing the importance of.this 



1405. The Church — French Affairs, etc. ^^ 

capture resolved to detain him. He had been provided 
with letters from his father to the King, to be used in 
case of his landing in England ; but Henry jestingly re- 
marked that if the Scots had been friendly they would 
have sent the young man to him for his education, as 
he knew the French tongue quite as well as King 
Charles. 

5. The news of this final calamity was too much for 
the old King of Scots, who died the third day after it was 
reported to him. The government of Scotland, though 
not the name of king, fell into the hands of the Duke of 
Albany, who was by no means anxious that the captive 
should be set free. Henry, however, made the detention 
of the young prince as little galling to him as possible, 
and gave him an excellent education, of which Scotland 
in after days reaped the benefit. He was the first of the 
Scotch kings named James, and was distinguished not 
only as a very enlightened king but as a poet, some of 
whose works were above mediocrity. 

V. The Church — French Affairs — Death of Henry IV. 

I. King Henry was now solicited to take part along 
with France in putting an end to the papal schism which 
had so long troubled the world. On the .j^^g schism in 
death of Pope Innocent VII. in 1406, the the papacy. 
cardinals at Rome, before proceeding to a new election, 
made a compact that whoever should be elected Pope 
should abdicate if the anti-Pope would do the same, so 
as to allow the rival colleges to coalesce in the election 
of one pontiff. The election fell upon the Cardinal St. 
Mark, who thereupon assumed the title of Gregory XII., 
and bound himself by oath after his election to fulfil the 
agreement to which he had already given his consent 



86 Henry IV. ch. iv. 

as cardinal. He accordingly a few months later made 
preparations to go to Savona, where he was to hold a 
conference with his rival as to the proposed renunciation 
of their dignities. But the King of Naples took advantage 
of his intended departure to march on Rome ; and though 
he was driven back by Paolo Orsini, the occurrence 
served as an excuse to the Pope for not fulfiling his 
engagement. After a time it became evident that the 
Pope had no real intention to resign, and the Cardinal 
of Bordeaux was sent over to England by the college at 
Avignon to represent the bad faith of Pope Gregory and 
to solicit Henry's assistance in referring the affairs of the 
Church to a general council to be held at Pisa. To this 
Henry readily agreed, and with the general consent of 
Christendom the council was held at Pisa in 1409, when 
both Pope Gregory and the anti-Pope were deposed, and 
a new pope elected who took the name of Alexander V. 
2. At this time the religious condition of England 
was still very strongly affected by the teaching of Wy- 
cliffe. The influence of his opinions, however, was not 
quite what it had been. In the days of King Richard it 
was said that you could hardly see two persons together 
in the street but one of them was a Lollard. John of 
Gaunt was their avowed protector, and seems to have 
been himself a disciple of the bold reformer. And not- 
withstanding papal censures, the teaching of the Lollards 
was not in Richard's time visited with civil penalties. 
But when Henry came to the throne he found the neces- 
sity of supporting the authority of the Church. The 
clergy, too, were recovering their influence, and the 
votaries of Lollard doctrines were chiefly among the 
laity. Before the King had been two years upon the 
throne a very severe enactment was passed against 
heresy, by which for the first time it was ordained that a 



1 41 1. The Church — French Affairs ^ etc. 87 

heretic should be committed to the flames. Heretics 
A case immediately occurred for putting this bumed. 
cruel statute into effect, and a clergyman named William 
Sawtre was burned in Smithfield as a Lollard. Nine 
years later a still more cruel case occurred at the same 
place of execution. A smith named Thomas Badby was 
burned for denying the Real Presence, The King's 
eldest son, Prince Henry, was present on the scene and, 
probably out of real compassion for the sufferer, endea- 
vored to persuade him to recant. This he steadily 
refused to do, and allowed himself to be closed in and 
the fire lit around him. In the midst of the flames, 
however, his courage failed, and he cried out for mercy. 
The Prince ordered the burning heaps to be removed 
and the man extricated; then promised, if he would 
retract his heresy, to give him threepence a day for life. 
But the poor man was now ashamed of his weakness, 
and refused to accept the prince's bounty. He was there- 
fore again shut up and perished in the fire. 

3. Nevertheless, the repeated attacks made in Parlia- 
ment on the possessions of the clergy evince a strong 
feeling of animosity against the Church which must 
have been due to the prevalence of Lollard „ 

• 1 • TTT 1 11 Proposals to 

opmions m the community. We have already confiscate 
noticed the proposal of the Lack-learning sions o^f the 
Parliament for the confiscation of the ^^^""sy- 
Church's property. Although that proposal was with- 
drawn for the time it was renewed six years afterwards, 
and a bill to that effect actually passed the Commons at 
the very time that Badby suffered at Smithfield. It was 
seriously represented to the King that the revenues of the 
bishops, abbots, and priors were sufficient to maintain 
fifteen earls, 1,500 knights, and 6,200 esquires for the 
defence of the kingdom, besides 100 hospitals for the 



88 Henry IV. ch. iv. 

care of the infirm. The measure was rejected by the 
Lords, owing mainly to the opposition of Prince Henry ; 
but the Commons did not desist from their efforts to im- 
pair the privileges of the Church. They first proposed 
to abolish episcopal jurisdiction in the case of clerical 
convicts ; for it was at this time the privilege of bishops 
to retain in their own prisons clergymen who had been 
convicted of any crimes. Afterwards they endeavored 
to procure a mitigation of the severe law already passed 
against the Lollards by which any one found preaching 
heresy might be committed to prison without the King's 
writ or warrant. But all their efforts in these directions 
proved totally ineffectual. 

4. Scarcely anything of domestic interest occurred 
during the last few years of Henry's reign. But the 
events which took place in the neighboring kingdom of 
France were such as to excite no small degree of interest, 
and they had a most important bearing on the history of 
the succeeding reign. France was at this time torn by 
internal discords. For many years King Charles VI.— 
the same king who, being yet a young man, had assem- 
bled the great fleet at Sluys that was to have conquered 
England, had been afflicted with hopeless insanity. His 
queen, Isabel of Bavaria, left him helpless in his malady, 
and lived in shameless adultery with Louis Duke of Or- 
leans, who, being the King's own brother, aspired to 
govern everything. He was, however, hated by the 
Parisians for his immoralities, and more than all, for 
reasons personal and political, he was hated by the Duke 
of Burgundy, who was powerful over all the northern 
parts of France. On November 23, 1407, the Duke of 
Orleans was murdered in the streets of Paris, and when 
inquiry was made into the circumstances of the crime 
the Duke of Burgundy confessed that it had been done 



1413- Th^ Church — French Affairs, etc. 89 

at his instigation. It was an act of peculiar treachery, 
for a seeming reconciliation had just been effected be- 
tween the rivals, who had taken the sacrament together 
the previous Sunday and had agreed to dine together on 
the Sunday following. A son of the Duke of Orleans 
succeeded to his father's title and bent every effort to 
revenge his murder ; but the King of France, under the 
guidance of his son, the heir-apparent, who had been 
entirely alienated from the Orleanist party and from his 
own mother, favored the party of his opponent. The 
young Duke of Orleans, however, strengthened himself 
by marrying a daughter of the Count of Armagnac, and 
his whole party became known as the party of the Ar- 
magnacs. In short, these private feuds became national, 
and separated for many years the north and south of 
France into two hostile factions. During the days of 
Henry IV. the English at first favored the party of the 
Duke of Burgundy, and a body of Englishmen helped 
to defeat the Orleanists in an engagement at St. Cloud. 
But afterwards the Duke of Orleans sent an embassy to 
England and induced Henry to send aid to him and 
abandon the party of his rival. 

5. Things were in this state when Henry IV. died on 
March 20, 141 3. For years he had been subject to epi- 
leptic fits, brought on, doubtless, by the pressure of con- 
stant anxieties. Not only had his reign been troubled 
with incessant rebellions, but many conspi- Death of 
racies had been formed against his life. ^^^ 
Sometimes the attempt had been made to put poison in 
his food ; at other times his hose or his shirt was smeared 
with venom ; sharp irons were cunningly laid within his 
bed, and other subtle means were employed to put an 
end to him. Secret enemies evidently lurked within his 
household and filled him with continual fear. Cutaneous 



po Henry V. ch. v, 

eruptions also broke out upon his face, which some re- 
garded as a judgment of God for the murder of Arch- 
bishop Scrope. His last attack overtook him in West- 
minster Abbey. He was carried into the abbot's lodging 
and expired in the Jerusalem Chamber, — the event, we 
are told, being regarded as the fulfilment of a misunder- 
stood prophecy, which said that he was to die at Jerusa- 
lem. It was doubtless a real aspiration of Henry's to 
have ended his life in the Holy Land. 



CHAPTER V. 

HENRY V. 

I. O Ideas fie and the Lollards, 

I. Henry, the eldest son of the deceased King — a 
young man of six-and-twenty — succeeded at 
once to the crown which it had cost his 
father so much anxiety to keep. It is said that the latter, 
while he lay upon his death-bed, demanded 
character of of his heir-apparent how he proposed to de- 
^^^ ' fend such an ill-gotten possession; upon 
which the young prince replied that he would trust for 
that to his sword, as his father had done before him. 
This policy he pursued most successfully throughout his 
rather brief reign, and by brilliant achievements in arms 
and foreign conquest made the world forget the original 
weakness of the Lancastrian title. Already he had dis- 
tinguished himself by his bravery in the war against 
Glendower, and more particularly in the battle of Shrews- 
bury, where he was wounded in the face with an arrow. 
His attendants would have carried him off the field, but 



1413- Oldcastle and the Lollards. 91 

he insisted rather on being led to the front of the battle 
to animate his followers ; and it was probably his per- 
sonal prowess that day that determined the issue. The 
Welsh, who had been so troublesome to his father, ad 
mired his valor and claimed him as a true prince of 
Wales, remembering that he had been born at Mon- 
mouth, which place was at that time within the princi- 
pality. They discovered that there was an ancient 
prophecy that a prince would be born among themselves 
who should rule the whole realm of England ; and they 
saw its fulfilment in King Henry V. 

2. He was popular besides for other things than 
bravery. Young and handsome, with abundance of 
animal spirits, he delighted in feats of agility and 
strength. He was tall and slender in person, with rather 
a long neck and small bones — a frame admirably adapted 
to nimble exercises. So swift was he in running that he 
could run down and capture a wild buck in a park with- 
out dogs, bow, or weapon of any sort. His mental en- 
dowments, too, were above the average, and he had 
received an excellent education. He delighted in songs 
and music, was very affable, and mixed readily with the 
people ; nor could he be restrained by the dull decorum 
of the court, like the heir-apparent of a long- 
settled dynasty. On many occasions he had life. 
displayed a love of frolic which gave rise to some degree 
of scandal. Sometimes he and his companions in dis- 
guise would wa^day his own receivers and rob them of 
the rents they had collected from his tenants. When the 
receivers came to account with him afterwards he would 
enjoy their mortification in telling how they had lost the 
money, until he declared by whom they had been robbed 
and gave them a full discharge, with special rewards to 
those who had offered him the most valiant resistance. 



92 Henry V. CH. v. 

At another time one of his riotous comrades was brought 
before the Chief Justice for transgression of the law. The 
prince attended at the trial, and demanded that the 
offender should be set free. The judge refused to comply, 
observing that the prince might be able to obtain a par- 
don from the King his father, but that for his own part 
he must administer justice according to the laws. Young 
Henry, who was not satisfied to adopt such a round- 
about method of procedure, threatened to rescue the 
man and laid his hand upon his sword, or, as some 
writers say, struck the Chief Justice with his fist. The 
judge, however, showed himself unmoved, and committed 
the prince to prison for contempt of court. This firmness 
produced a marked effect. The prince, who had a real 
respect for authority, became at once submissive and 
allowed himself to be taken into custody. And the King 
his father, being informed of the incident, thanked God 
for having given him so upright a judge and so obedient 
a son. 

3. When he came to the throne he at once made it 

evident that it was from no insensibility to his high future 

destiny that he had indulged so freely the frolicsome 

humors of his youth. The men who had 

He dis- - . , , . 

misses his been the companions of his pleasures he im- 

companions. ,. , ^ . , . . ,, , 

mediately dismissed, giving them presents, 
but at the same time commanding them never again to 
come within ten miles of the Court. On the other hand, 
he took at once into his confidence the ministers of his 
father and showed a sagacity in the discussion of state 
affairs which they had not expected to find in a young 
man who had shown himself so fond of amusement. 
Every one perceived that he was altogether an altered 
man, and every one was loud in the praises of his wisdom, 
modesty, and virtue. 



1 41 3* Oldcastle and the Lollards. 93 

4. One party among his subjects, however, gave the 
new King trouble at the very commencement of his 
reign. From his conduct at the execution of Thomas 
Badby, the Lollards possibly may have expected to find 
in him a friend and protector. The chief Sir John Old- 
man among them. Sir John Oldcastle (who, tector'cTf the" 
though remembered afterwards chiefly by Lollards. 

his family surname, was by right of his wife Lord Cob- 
ham), belonged to the royal household, and was greatly 
esteemed by Henry for his integrity of character. But, 
either being disappointed in the King, or presuming too 
much on the influence of Lord Cobham, they began to 
put up seditious papers on the doors of the London 
churches, stating that a hundred thousand men would 
rise in arms against all who were not of their way of 
thinking. By this the clergy were stirred into activity, 
and in a convocation held at London it was found that 
the Lollards had been instigated to various irregularities 
by the protection afforded to them by Oldcastle. He 
had stirred up men to preach in various places without 
their having received a license from their bishops, and 
had put down by violence all who protested against this 
irregularity, declaring that the Archbishop of Canterbury 
and his suffragans had no right to make any regulations 
on the subject. He had also put forth opinions opposed 
to the teaching of the Church as to the Sacrament, 
penance, pilgrimages, the worship of images, and the 
power of the keys. 

5. The clergy in convocation accordingly called upon 
the Archbishop of Canterbury to take proceedings 
against Oldcastle. The primate, however, with a deputa- 
tion of his clergy, first waited upon the King ^ 

°^ -^ ° Proceedings 

at Kennington. At Henry s request the against him 
matter was for some time put off in order °^ ^^^^y- 



94 Henry V. CH. v. 

that he might use his own personal influence to induce 
Oldcastle to desist from his opposition to the Church. 
But the King's efforts were useless ; and the archbishop 
at length, with the King's consent, issued a citation 
against the offender. The messenger brought it to Cow- 
ling Castle in Kent, where Lord Cobham then resided, 
but the latter would not allow it to be served upon him, 
and it was posted on the doors of Rochester Cathedral. 
As he refused to appear on the day named, he was ex- 
communicated as contumacious, and the King caused 
him to be apprehended and committed to the Tower. 
From thence he was brought in custody of the Lieu- 
tenant of the Tower before a spiritual court at St. Paul's, 
when the archbishop offered to absolve him from the 
sentence of excommunication. But Oldcastle declined 
to ask for absolution, and, turning to another subject, 
said he was ready to declare to the archbishop the arti- 
cles of his belief. 

6. On this he drew from his bosom an indented parch- 
ment, read out the contents, and laid it before the Court. 
The archbishop said that the substance of his confession 
was orthodox enough, but that it did not contain any- 
thing expUcit on the subject of those heresies that he 
was accused of propagating, and he desired that he 
would explain particularly his opinions touching the 
sacrament of the altar and the sacrament of penance. 
Oldcastle replied that he would make no further answer 
on these points than was contained in the documents he 
had given in. The archbishop then set before him the 
opinions of St. Augustine and other saints, which he said 
had been adopted by the Church, and which all good 
Catholics ought to accept. Oldcastle answered that he 
wished to believe in whatever Holy Church had deter- 
mined and God had enjoined; but that the pope and 



1 41 4- Oldcastle and the Lollards. 95 

cardinals and the bishops of the Church had any 
authority to decide these points he could not admit. 

7. Being examined a second day he at length gave a 
pretty full statement of his opinions, and among other 
things declared that the pope, bishops, and friars consti- 
tuted the head, members, and tail of Antichrist. After 
this the decision of the tribunal could not be doubtful. 
The courts and officers of the Church were unable to 
inflict any punishment on an offender except excommu- 
nication ; but he was pronounced a heretic and delivered 
over, as the expression was, to the secular arm. Under 
the law passed in the preceding reign he was thus liable 
to be burnt; but his judges interceded with the King to 
grant him forty days' respite, during which it was hoped 
he might recant. During this interval, however, he 
effected his escape from the Tower, and very shortly 
afterwards his followers occasioned more than usual 
trouble. So many persons were apprehended for se- 
dition and heresy that the jails of London were full, and 
rumors of a most alarming conspiracy reached the King 
soon after Christmas. 

8. A large meeting of Lollards from various parts of 
the kingdom had been secretly arranged to meet by night 
in St. Giles's Fields near London. Thou- conspiracy of 
sands of apprentices from the city were *^^ Lollards. 
expected to join it. The design was said to be to seize, 
if not put to death, the King and his brothers, to pro- 
claim Oldcastle Regent, and to destroy the monasteries 
of Westminster and St. Alban's, St. Paul's, and the houses 
of the friars in London. Oldcastle himself was expected 
to be present at the muster and to put himself at the head 
of the insurgents. The world, perhaps, had yet to be con- 
vinced that the young King was competent to rule with a 
strong hand and maintain the House of Lancaster upon 



96 Henry V. ch. v. 

the throne of England. But Henry was fully equal to the 
A. D. 1414, emergency. The meeting, he learned, was 
-^^"- 7- to take place on Sunday night after Twelfth 

Day. He quietly removed from Eltham, where he had 
been keeping his Christmas, to the palace at Westminster, 
and there ordered a body of followers under arms to ac- 
company him by night to the place of meeting. He at 
the same time commanded the gates of the city to be 
securely kept, so as to prevent any one from leaving. On 
the news of his approach the rebels were thrown into 
consternation. A number of them were killed, and others 
taken prisoners. What became of Oldcastle, or whether 
he had actually been there, no one knew. The King 
offered a reward of 1,000 marks for his apprehension; 
but he was a popular hero, and no one could be induced 
to betray him. His unhappy followers were speedily put 
to execution ; and some, who had been condemned for 
heresy as well as sedition, were not only hanged, but 
burnt at the same time, with the gallows from which they 
were suspended. 

n. The War with France and the Battle of Agi?icourt. 

I. During the first year of Henry's reign the unhappy 
King of France was induced to appeal to England and 
other countries against rebels within his own kingdom, 
lest they should obtain the assistance of foreign govern- 
ments. We have already shown how the French nation 
was divided into the two hostile factions of the Burgun- 
dians and the Armagnacs. But within the city of Paris 
a still more dangerous party was formed out of the popu- 
lace with a few of the leading butchers at their head. 
From the name of their ringleader, one Caboche, whose 
occupation consisted in flaying slaughtered animals, they 
were called the Cabochians. They wore white scarfs or 



1 41 4- The War with France. 97 

hoods, and were at first secretly encouraged ^, ^ , 

The Cabo- 

by the party of the Burgundians. But they chians in Paris, 
soon became so powerful that for a time all authority 
was suspended. Paris lay at their mercy, and scenes 
were enacted not unlike those which had been witnessed 
in London under Wat Tyler. They took possession of 
the Bastille, broke into the house of the Dauphin, Louis 
Duke of Guienne, forced themselves into the King's 
presence, and took and imprisoned the Queen's brother, 
the Duke of Bavaria, with the Duke of Bar, a prince of 
the Blood Royal, all the ministers of state, and several 
ladies of the court. The King was obliged to wear in 
public a white scarf and to make ordinances for the 
reform of abuses, while the bodies of some unpopular 
noblemen and ministers, who were alleged by the in- 
surgents to have put an end to their own lives, were ex- 
hibited upon a gibbet. 

2. This revolution took place at the end of April in 
the year 141 3, little more than a month after the death of 
Henry IV. of England. The government of the Cabo- 
chians, however, did not last long. The princes of the 
Blood and the university of Paris combined to put an 
end to their usurpation. Order was restored under the 
Duke of Orleans, to whom the King now gave his confi- 
dence, and the Duke of Burgundy withdrev/ into Flan- 
ders. The war between the two factions was renewed, 
and each party sought to strengthen itself by an alliance 
with England. Henry, for his part, saw his Henry takes 
advantage in the divided state of the country, the'drvi^fonsin 
and negotiated with both parties at one and ^•■^"^^• 
the same time. He even sent and received embassies 
to and from both parties on the subject of his own 
marriage, proposing on the one hand to ally himself 
with a daughter of the Duke of Burgundy, on the other, 

H 



98 , Henry V. CH. v. 

with a daughter of the King of France. At length he 
suddenly revived the claim made by Edward III., 
asserted his own right to the French crown, and required 
Charles at once to yield up possession of his kingdom, or 
at least to make immediate surrender of all that had been 
ceded to England by the treaty of Bretigni (see Map I.), 
together with the duchy of Normandy, Anjou, Maine, 
and a number of other provinces. 

3. The claim made by Edward III. to the French 
crown had been questionable enough. That of Henry 

His claim to "^^^ Certainly most unreasonable. Edward 
the kingdom. "h^d maintained that though the Salic law, 
which governed the succession in France, excluded 
females from the throne, it did not exclude their male 
descendants. On this theory Edward himself was 
doubtless the true heir to the French monarchy. But even 
admitting the claims of Edward, his rights had certainly 
not descended to Henry V., seeing that even in England 
neither he nor his father was true heir to the throne by 
lineal right. A war with France, however, was sure to 
be popular with his subjects, and the weakness of that 
country from civil discord seemed a favorable oppor- 
tunity for urging the most extreme pretensions. 

4. To give a show of fairness and moderation the 
English ambassadors at Paris lessened their demands 
more than once, and appeared willing for some time to 
renew negotiations after their terms had been rejected. 
But in the end they still insisted on a claim, which in 
point of equity was altogether preposterous, and rejected 
a compromise which would have put Henry in possession 
of the whole of Guienne and given him the hand of the 
French king's daughter Catherine with a marriage por- 
tion of 800,000 crowns. Meanwhile Henry was making 
active preparations for war, and at the same time carried 



1 41 5- The War with France. 99 

on secret negotiations with the Duke of Burgundy, trust- 
ing to have him for an ally in the invasion of France. 

5. At length in the summer of 141 5, the King had 
collected an army and was ready to embark at South- 
ampton. But on the eve of his departure 

^ f A. D. 1415. 

a conspiracy was discovered, the object of 
which was to dethrone the king and set aside the House 
of Lancaster. The conspirators were Richard Earl of 
Cambridge, Henry Lord Scrope of Masham, and a 
knight of Northumberland named Sir Thomas Grey. 
The Earl of Cambridge was the King's cousin-german, 
and had been recently raised to that dignity by Henry 
himself. Lord Scrope was, to all appearance, the King's 
most intimate friend and counsellor. The design seems 
to have been formed upon the model of similar projects 
in the preceding reign. Richard II. was to be proclaimed 
once more as if he had been still alive ; but the real in- 
tention was to procure the crown for Edmund Mortimer, 
Earl of March, the true heir of Richard whom Henry 
IV. had set aside. At the same time the Earl of March 
himself seems hardly to have countenanced the attempt ; 
but the Earl of Cambridge, who had married his sister, 
wished, doubtless, to secure the succession for his son 
Richard, as the Earl of March had no children. Evident- 
ly it was the impression of some persons that the House 
of Lancaster was not even yet firmly seated upon the 
throne. Perhaps it was not even yet apparent that the 
young man who had so recently been a gamesome 
reveller, was capable of ruling with a firm hand as king. 

6. But all doubt on this point was soon terminated. 
The commissioners were tried by a commission hastily 
issued, and were summarily condemned and put to 
death. The Earl of March, it is said, revealed the plot 
to the King, sat as one of the judges of his two brother 



loo Henry V. ch. v. 

peers, and was taken into the King's favor. The Earl 
of Cambridge made a confession of his guilt. Lord 
Scrope, though he repudiated the imputation of dis- 
loyalty, admitted having had a guilty knowledge of 
the plot, which he said it had been his purpose to de- 
feat. The one nobleman, in consideration of his royal 
blood was simply beheaded ; the other was drawn and 
quartered. We hear of no more attempts of the kind 
during Henry's reign. 

7. With a fleet of 1,500 sail Henry crossed the sea 
and landed without opposition at Chef de Caux, near 
Harfleur, at the mouth of the Seine. The force that he 
brought with him was about 30,000 men, and he imme- 
diately employed it in laying siege to Harfleur. The 
place was strong, so far as walls and bulwarks could 
make it, but it was not well victualled, and after a five 

weeks' siege it was obliged to capitulate. 

But the forces of the besiegers were thinned 
by disease as well as actual fighting. Dysentery had 
broken out in the camp, and, though it was only Sep- 
tember, they sufl"ered bitterly from the coldness of the 
nights ; so that when the town had been won and 
garrisoned, the force available for further operations 
amounted to less than half the original strength of the 
invading army. Under the circumstances it was hope- 
less to expect to do much before the winter set in, and 
many counselled the King to return to England. But 
Henry could not tolerate the idea of retreat or even of 
apparent inaction. He sent a challenge to the Dauphin, 
offering to refer their differences to single combat ; and 
when no notice was taken of this proposal, he deter- 
mined to cut his way, if possible, through the country to 
Calais, along with the remainder of his forces. 

8. It was a difficult and hazardous march. Hunger, 



I4I5- 



The War with France. loi 



dysenter)' and fever had already reduced the Uttle band 
to less than 9,cxx) men, or, as good authorities say, to 
little more than 6,000. The countr}* people were un- 
friendly, their supphes were cut off on all sides, and the 
scant)^ stock of provisions with which they set out was 
soon exhausted. For want of bread many were driven 
to feed on nuts, while the enemy harassed them upon 
the way and broke down the bridges in advance of 
them. On one or two occasions having repulsed an 
attack from a garrisoned town, Henr\' demanded and 
obtained from the governor a safe-conduct and a certain 
quantity- of bread and wine, under threat of setting fire 
to the place if refused. In this manner he and his army 
gradually approached the river Somme at Blanche 
Tache, where there was a ford by which King Edward 
III. had crossed before the battle of Cressy. But while 
yet some distance from it, they received information 
from a prisoner that the ford was guarded by 6,000 
fighting men, and though the intelligence was untrue, 
it deterred him from attempting the passage. They 
accordingly turned to the right and went up the river as 
far as Amiens, but were still unable to cross, till, after 
following the course of the river about fift\- miles further, 
they fortunately came upon an undefended ford and 
passed over before their enemies were aware 

9. Hitherto their progress had not been without ad- 
ventures and skirmishes in many places. But the main 
army of the French only overtook them when they had 
arrived within about fort\'-five miles of Calais, On the 
night of the 24th of October they were posted at the vil- 
lage of Maisoncelles, with an enemy before them five or 
six times their number, who had resolved to stop their 
further progress. Both sides prepared for battle on the 
following morning. The Enghsh, besides being so much 



I02 Henry V. CH. v. 

inferior in numbers, were wasted by disease and famine, 
while their adversaries were fresh and vigorous, with a 
plentiful commissariat. But the latter were over-confi- 
dent. They spent the evening in dice-playing and 
making wagers about the prisoners they should take ; 
while the English, on the contrary, confessed themselves 
and received the sacrament. Heavy rain fell during the 
night, from which both armies suffered ; but Henry 
availed himself of a brief period of moonlight to have the 
ground thoroughly surveyed. His position was an ad- 
mirable one. His forces occupied a narrow field hemmed 
in on either side by hedges and thickets, so that they 
could only be attacked in front, and were in no fear of 
being surrounded. Early on the following 
morning Henry rose and heard mass ; but 
the two armies stood facing each other for some hours, 
each waiting for the other to begin. The English archers 
^, „ , were drawn up in front in form of a wedge. 

The Batde ^ . ° 

of Agin- and each man was provided with a stake 

shod with iron at both ends, which being 
fixed into the ground before him, the whole line formed 
a kind of hedge bristling with sharp points, to defend 
them from being ridden down by the enemy's cavalry. 
At length, however, Henry gave orders to commence the 
attack, and the archers advanced, leaving their stakes 
behind them fixed in the ground. The French cavalry 
on either side endeavored to close them in, but were 
soon obliged to retire before the thick showers of arrows 
poured in upon them, which destroyed four-fifths of 
their numbers. Their horses then became unmanage- 
able, being plagued with a multitude of wounds, and the 
whole army was thrown into confusion. Never was a 
more brilliant victory won against more overwhelming 
odds. 



I4i5« IT^^ War with France. 103 

10. One sad piece of cruelty alone tarnished the glory 
of that day's action, but it seems to have been dictated 
by fear as a means of self-preservation. After the enemy 
had been completely routed in front, and a multitude of 
prisoners taken, the King hearing that some detachments 
had got round to his rear, and were endeavoring to 
plunder his baggage, gave orders to the whole army to 
put their prisoners to death. The order was executed in 
the most relentless fashion. One or two distinguished 
prisoners afterwards were taken from under heaps of 
slain, among whom were the Dukes of Orleans and 
Bourbon. Altogether, the slaughter of the French was 
enormous. There is a general agreement that it was 
upwards of 10,000 men, and among them were the flower 
of the French nobility. That of the English was dispro- 
portionately small. Their own writers reckon it not more 
than 100 altogether, some absurdly stating it as low as 
twenty or thirty, while the French authorities estimate it 
variously from 300 to 1,600. Henry called his victory 
the battle of Agincourt from the name of a neighboring 
castle. The army proceeded in excellent order to Calais, 
where they were triumphantly received, and after resting 
there a while recrossed to England. The news of such 
a splendid victory caused them to be welcomed with an 
enthusiasm that knew no bounds. At Dover the people 
rushed into the sea to meet the conquerors, and carried 
the King in their arms in triumph from his vessel to the 
shore. From thence to London his progress was like 
one continued triumphal procession, and the capital it- 
self received him with every demonstration of joy. 



I04 Henry V. ch. v. 

III. The E^nperor Sigismund — Henry invades France a 
second titne — The Foul Raid — Execution of Oldcastle. 

1. In the following spring Henry was honored with a 
A D 1416 ^'vEAt from Sigismund, King of the Romans 
Visit of the a.nd Emperor elect. His great object was to 

lyinperor ^ o j 

Sigismund heal the divisions in Christendom, and he 
had already presided at one session of the 
Council of Constance which had been convoked by him 
for the purpose of terminating the schism in the papacy. 
At that session two of the rival popes, John XXIII. and 
Gregory XII., were persuaded to resign, and he had 
afterwards obtained from the third, Benedict XIII., an 
engagement to acknowledge the authority of the council. 
Before leaving Constance, too, he had, though most 
unwillingly, yielding to the solicitations of the divines, 
consented to the execution of John Huss, the Bohemian 
heretic, to whom he had given a safe-conduct. Extin- 
guishing heresy was supposed to be a great means of 
promoting harmony among Christians, and he was taught 
by his spiritual instructors that he had no right to keep 
faith with the Church's enemies. But now he was on a 
mission to prevent war and bloodshed between two 
nations ; for he wished to be the negotiator of peace 
between France and England, and Charles VI., whom 
he had visited on his way, had desired him to use his 
best efforts towards that end. 

2. If, however, he was at any time sincere in this 
intention, he very soon became convinced that a firm 

He becomes P^acc between the two countries was hope- 

an ally of iggs, and, as his stay in England was pro- 
Henry. 1 , T J 

tracted he ceased to be a mediator and 
became more and more a partizan of Henry. Just before 
his arrival the Earl of Dorset, whom Henry had left as 
governor of Harfleur, overran the adjacent country up to 



1416. The War with France. 105 

the gates of Rouen. The Count of Armagnac, Constable 
of France, retahated by laying siege to Harfleur by land 
and sea, and succeeded in reducing it to great extremi- 
ties for want of victuals. Henry proposed to go thither 
with a fleet for its relief, but was dissuaded by the Em- 
peror from hazarding his person in the enterprise, and 
gave the command of the squadron to his brother the 
Duke of Bedford, who soon took or sunk several of the 
enemy's vessels, and compelled him to raise the siege. 
The Emperor highly applauded the Duke of Bedford's 
gallantry, and becoming every day more cordial to 
Henry, at length entered into an offensive and defensive 
league with him against France. On the conclusion of 
his visit Henry accompanied him over to Calais. 

3. To Calais John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, 
then came to pay a visit to the King and Emperor. 
From his past conduct it was naturally sus- rp, ^ , 
pected that he was once more seeking to of Bur- 
make an alliance with his country's enemies. 
So deeply, indeed, was he distrusted by the Court of 
France, that his assistance had not been asked to repel 
the English invasion, and he was accordingly not present 
at the battle of Agincourt, though two of his brothers 
died upon the field. He professed great anxiety to 
avenge their deaths, and, as if to do his country service, 
advanced towards Paris with a large body of followers. 
But the city of Paris remembered the rule of the Cabo- 
chians and kept him at a distance. Of course, when 
after this he went to Calais and conferred with the King 
of England, the worst possible inferences were drawn as 
to his intention. It appears, however, that he did not 
actually ally himself with Henry against France, but only 
concluded a truce with him for the counties of Flanders 
and Artois. He was more concerned to form an alliance 



io6 Henry V. ch. v. 

within the kingdom against the Armagnacs, and for this 
purpose, after leaving Henry, he had conferences at 
Valenciennes with John, the second son of the French 
king, who had recently become dauphin by the death of 
his brother, Louis Duke of Guienne. The two princes 
made a firm alliance together, and the duke promised to 
aid the dauphin in defending the kingdom against the 
English. But before many months were over the new 
dauphin followed his brother to the grave. 
April 4. Charles, the third brother, who became dau- 

phin in his place, was a boy of fourteen, completely under 
the control of the Count of Armagnac, who was now all- 
powerful. Suspicions were expressed that both his 
brothers had met with foul play in order that he might 
be heir-apparent. The last dauphin, indeed, had in all 
probability been poisoned. The Count of Armagnac ruled 
Paris with great despotism and cruelty by means of an 
army of Gascons ; and the citizens at length began to 
form conspiracies in favor of the Duke of Burgundy. 
Queen Isabel herself relented towards her old enemy ; 
but Armagnac sent her away to Tours and shut her up in 
prison. The Queen, however, declared herself Regent, 
protested against the assumption of authority by Armag- 
nac, and ordered that the taxes he imposed should not be 
levied. The Duke of Burgundy made war in her behalf, 
released her from captivity and brought her back to 
Paris. Her son, the dauphin, whom she hated as an 
enemy, was obliged to leave the capital ; and, as he also 
claimed to be regent, and disputed the authority of Bur- 
gundy and his own mother, the war was renewed in the 
provinces with as much violence as ever. 

4. A kingdom in such a condition as this could not 
but be an easy prey to an invader. Henry crossed the 
sea once more and landed again in Normandy, at Touc- 



141 7- Henry* s Second InvasioJi of France. 107 

ques, near the mouth of the Seine, but on the „ 

• • 1 n r K Henry 

opposite Side to Harneur. The Count of Ar- invades 
magnac had withdrawn most of the garrisons again, 
and placed them about Paris to act against ^^s^^^- i- 
the Duke of Burgundy, so that town after town submitted 
to the EngUsh with httle or no resistance. And as Henry 
estabUshed good government wherever he advanced, 
enforcing respect for women and for propertv", the 
country was beyond all question benefited by the inva- 
sion. In the course of a few months the English were 
masters of the greater part of Normandy. 

5. Meanwhile the Scots, following their usual policy, 
took advantage of the King's absence in France to at- 
tempt an inroad into the northern counties. » The Foul 
The Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, ^^"^•" 
accompanied by the Earl Douglas — ^that same Douglas 
who had fought against Henry IV. at Homildon and 
Shrewsbur}^ and lost an eye in the former battle — ^laid 
siege to Roxburgh castle. The expedition — unless it was 
intended by Albany simply to irritate the English and 
confirm them in their determination to keep King James 
a prisoner — appears to have been singularly ill-planned. 
Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, who had gone on a pilgrimage 
to Bridlington, no sooner heard the news than he hur- 
ried to the Borders, collecting men upon his way, and 
joined w^th the northern barons to resist the invaders. 
Another army hastened northwards under John Duke of 
Bedford, the King's brother, who had been left as guar- 
dian of the kingdom in Henr)*'s absence. But the Scots, 
finding that England was in a much better state to resist 
them than they had anticipated, abandoned the siege of 
Roxburgh, and shamefully returned home. The expedi- 
tion reflected so little honor upon the countrv- that it was 
called by the Scots themselves "the Foul Raid," and by 



io8 Henry V. CH. v. 

that name is known in history. It was severely punished 
by the Warden of the Marches, who, during the next 
two years laid waste the whole of the eastern borders 
of Scotland, reducing Hawick, Selkirk, Jedburgh, and 
Dunbar to ashes. 

6. By some it was insinuated that Sir John Oldcastle 
had been privy to this invasion. It was said that an 
emissary of the Scots had conferred with Oldcastle at 
Pomfret, and that Oldcastle had offered him a large sum 
of money if he would get his countrymen to bring the 
supposed King Richard with him into England. Such 
reports, of course, are evidence of nothing but the strong 
feeling of aversion with which the Lollards were re- 
garded ; but as such they are significant. Oldcastle had 
Oldcastle ^^^ lain Concealed from the King's officers 

^PPj^'j J for two years and a half; but about this 

hended and ^ ' 

executed. time he narrowly escaped being appre- 

hended at St. Alban's, after which he was actually cap- 
tured on the lands of Lord Powis in Wales. He was at 
once brought up to London, and, as Parliament was 
then in session, he was put on trial before his peers. 
The old indictment was brought up against him, and he 
was condemned to death. The sentence was executed 
upon him in the same barbarous manner in which it had 
already been executed on some of his followers. He 
was taken to St. Giles's Fields where the rising had oc- 
curred in his favor nearly three years before ; and there 
he was hung from a gallows by a great iron chain, and 
a fire being kindled beneath him he was burned to death. 

IV. Siege and Capture of Rouen — Murder of the Duke 
of Burgundy — Treaty of Troyes. 

I. The progress of the English arms in France did 
not, for a long time, induce the rival factions in that 



1419- Siege and Capture of Rouen, 109 

country to suspend the civil war among 
themselves. But at length some feeble ef- • • 41 • 

forts were made towards a reconciliation. The Council 
of Constance having healed the divisions in the Church 
by the election of Martin V. as pope in place of the three 
rival popes deposed, the new pontiff despatched two 
cardinals to France to aid in this important object. By 
their mediation a treaty was concluded be- 
tween the Queen, the Duke of Burgundy, 
and the dauphin ; but it was no sooner published than 
the Count of Armagnac and his partisans made a vehe- 
ment protest against it and accused of treason all who 
had promoted it. On this Paris rose in an- . 

ger, took part with the Burgundians, fell siars revolt 
upon all the leading Armagnacs, put them ^rmagnacs, 
in prison and destroyed their houses. The ^^ ^°' 
dauphin was only saved by one of Armagnac's principal 
adherents, Tannegui du Chatel, who carried him to the 
Bastille. The Bastille, however, was a few 

June 4. 

days after stormed by the populace, and Du 
Chatel was forced to withdraw with his charge to Melun. 
The Armagnac party, except those in prison, were en- 
tirely driven out of Paris. But even this did not satisfy 
the rage of the multitude. Riots continued from day to 
day, and a report being spread that the King was willing 
to ransom the captives, the people broke open the 
prisons and massacred every one of the 

*^ "^ June 12. 

prisoners. The Count of Armagnac, his 
chancellor, and several bishops and officers of state 
were the principal victims ; but no one, man or woman, 
was spared. State prisoners, criminals, and debtors, 
even women great with child, perished in this indiscrim- 
inate slaughter. 

2. Almost the whole of Normandy was by this time in 



no Henry V. ch. v. 

possession of the English ; but Rouen, the capital of the 
Siege of duchy, Still held out. It was a large city, 

Rouen. Strongly fortified, but Henry closed it in on 

every side until it was reduced to capitulate by hunger. 
At the beginning of the siege the authorities took mea- 
sures to expel the destitute class of the inhabitants, and 
several thousands of poor people were thus thrown into 
the hands of the besiegers, who endeavored to drive 
them back into the town. But the gates being absolutely 
shut against them, they remained between the walls and 
the trenches, pitifully crying for help and perishing for 
want of food and shelter, until, on Christmas Day, when 
the siege had continued nearly five months, Henry 
ordered food to be distributed to them " in the honor of 
Christ's Nativity." Those within the town, meanwhile, 
were reduced to no less extremities. Enormous prices 
were given for bread, and even for the bodies of dogs, 
cats, and rats. The garrison at length were induced to 
offer terms, but Henry for some time insisted on their 
surrendering at discretion. Hearing, however, that a 
desperate project was entertained of undermining the 
wall and suddenly rushing out upon the besiegers, he 
consented to grant them conditions, and the city capitu- 
A. D. 1419. lated on January 19. The few places that 
Jan. 19. remained unconquered in Normandy then 

opened their gates to Henry ; others in Maine and the 
Isle of France did the same, and the Enghsh troops 
entered Picardy on a further career of conquest. 

3. Both the rival factions were now seriously anxious 
to stop the progress of the English, either by coming at 
once to terms with Henry, or by uniting together against 
him ; and each in turn first tried the former course. The 
dauphin offered to treat with the King of England ; but 
as Henry demanded the whole of those large possessions 



1 41 9' Siege and Capture of Rouen, in 

in the north ard south of France which had been secured 
to Edward III. by the treaty of Bretigni, he felt that it 
was impossible to prolong the negotiation. The Duke 
of Burgundy then arranged a personal interview at Meu- 
lan between Henry on the one side and himself and the 
French queen on behalf of Charles, at which terms of 
peace were to be adjusted. The Queen brought with 
her the Princess Catherine her daughter, whose hand 
Henry himself had formerly demanded as one of the 
conditions on which he would have consented to forbear 
from invading France. It was now hoped that if he 
would take her in marriage he would moderate his other 
demands. But Henry, for his part, was altogether un- 
yielding. He insisted on the terms of the treaty of Bre- 
tigni, and on keeping his own conquests besides, with 
Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and the sovereignty over 
Brittany. 

4. Demands so exorbitant the Duke of Burgundy did 
not dare to accept, and as a last resource, he and the 
dauphin agreed to be reconciled and to unite in the de- 
fence of their country against the enemy. They held a 

personal interview, embraced each other, ^ , 

^ July II. 

and signed a treaty, by which they promised 

each to love the other as a brother, and to offer a joint 
resistance to the invaders. A further meeting was ar- 
ranged to take place about seven weeks later to com- 
plete matters and to consider their future policy. France 
was delighted at the prospect of internal harmony and 
the hope of deliverance from her enemies. But at the 
second interview an event occurred which marred all 
her prospects once more. The meeting had been ap- 
pointed to take place at Montereau, where the river 
Yonne falls into the Seine. The duke, remembering 
doubtless, how he himself had perfidiously murdered the 



112 Henry V. ch. v. 

Duke of Orleans, allowed the day originally appointed 
to pass by, and came to the place at last after considera- 
ble misgivings, which appear to have been overcome by 
the exhortations of treacherous friends. When he ar- 
rived he found a place railed in with barriers for the 
meeting. He nevertheless advanced, accompanied by 
ten attendants, and being told that the dauphin waited 
for him, he came within the barriers, which were imme- 
diately closed behind him. The dauphin was accom- 
panied by one or two gentlemen, among whom was his 
devoted servant, Tannegui du Chatel, who had saved 
him from the Parisian massacre. This Tannegui had. 
,^ , ^ been formerly a servant of Louis, Duke of 

Murder of ^ ' 

the Duke of Orleans, whose murder he had been eager- 
urgun y. ^^ seeking an opportunity to revenge ; and 
as the Duke of Burgundy knelt before the dauphin, he 
struck him a violent blow on the head with a battle-axe. 
The attack was immediately followed up by two or three 
others, who, before the duke was able to draw his sword, 
had closed in around him and despatched him with a 
multitude of wounds. 

5. The effect of this crime was what might have been 
anticipated. Nothing could have been more favorable 
to the aggressive designs of Henry, or more ruinous to 
the party of the dauphin, with whose complicity it had 
been too evidently committed. Philip, the son and heir 
of the murdered Duke of Burgundy, at once sought 
means to revenge his father's death. The people of 
Paris became more than ever enraged against the Ar- 
magnacs, and entered into negotiations with the King 
of England. The new Duke Phihp and Queen Isabel 
did the same, the latter being no less eager than the 
former for the punishment of her own son. Within less 
than three months they made up their minds to waive 



1420. Murder of the Duke of Burgundy. 113 

eveiy scruple as to the acceptance of Henry's most ex- 
orbitant demands. He was to have the Princesss Cathe- 
rine in marriage, and, the dauphin being disinherited, 
to succeed to the crown of France on her father's death. 
He was also to be regent during King Charles's life ; and 
all who held honors or offices of any kind in France were 
at once to swear allegiance to him as their future sove- 
reign. Henry, for his part, was to use his utmost power 
to reduce to obedience those towns and places within the 
realm which adhered to the dauphin or the Armagnacs. 

6. A treaty on this basis was at length concluded at 
Troyes in Champagne on May 21, 1420, and on Trinity 
Sunday, Tune 2, Henry was married to the 

^ •' ■' A. D. I420' 

Princess Catherine. Shortly afterwards, the May 21. 
treaty was formally registered by the states Troyes. 
of the realm at Paris, when the dauphin was 5^^'^'t'^ 

' ^ marriage. 

condemned and attainted as guilty of the 
murder of the Duke of Burgundy and declared incapa- 
ble of succeeding to the crown. But the state of affairs 
left Henry no time for honeymoon festivities. On the 
Tuesday after his wedding he again put himself at the 
head of his army, and marched with Philip of Burgundy 
to lay siege to Sens, which in a few days capitulated. 
Montereau and Melun were next besieged in succession, 
and each, after some resistance, was compelled to sur- 
render. The latter siege lasted nearly four months, and 
during its continuance Henry fought a single combat 
with the governor in the mines, each combatant having 
his vizor down and being unknown to the other. The 
governor's name was Barbason, and he was one of those 
accused of complicity in the murder of the Duke of 
Orleans ; but in consequence of this incident, Henry 
saved him from the capital punishment which, he would 

otherwise have incurred on his capture. 

I 



T14 Henry V. ch. v. 

V. Henry's Third Invasion of France — His Death. 

1. Towards the end of the year Henry entered Paris 
in triumph with the French king and the Duke of Bur- 
gundy. He there kept Christmas, and shortly afterwards 

removed with his Queen into Normandy on 

A. D. I42I. . ^ ^ 

his return into England. He held a parlia- 
ment at Rouen to confirm his authority in the duchy, 
after which he passed through Picardy and Calais, and 
crossing the sea came by Dover and Canterbury to 
London. By his own subjects, and especially in the 
capital, he and his bride were received with profuse 

demonstrations of ioy. The Queen was 

The Queen , ,,t . ^ . , ^ 

crowned, crowned at W estmmster with great magni- 

■ ^^' ficence, and afterwards Henry went a pro- 

gress with her through the country, making pilgrimages 
to several of the more famous shrines in England. 

2. But while he was thus employed, a great calamity 
befell the English power in France, which, when the news 
arrived in England, made it apparent that the King's 
presence was again much needed across the Channel. 
His brother, the Duke of Clarence, whom he had left as 

his lieutenant, was defeated and slain at 

Battle of ^ ' . A • 1 <- -r- 1 1 

Beauge, Bcaugc in Anjou by an army of French and 

arc 22. Scots, a number of English noblemen being 

also slain or taken prisoners. This was the first impor- 
tant advantage the dauphin had gained, and the credit of 
the victory was mainly due to his Scotch allies. For the 
Duke of Albany, who was Regent of Scotland, though it 
is commonly supposed that he was unwilling to give 
needless offence to England lest Henry should terminate 
his power by setting the Scotch king at liberty, had been 
compelled by the general sympathy of the Scots with 
France to send a force under his son the Earl of Buchan 
to serve against the English. The service which they 



1 42 1. Henry' s Third Invasion of France. 115 

did in that battle was so great that the Earl of Buchan 
was created by the dauphin Constable of France. 

3. Again Henry crossed the sea with a new army, 
having borrowed large sums for the expenses of the ex- 
pedition. Before he left England he made „ 

. . , , . . ^. Henry's thira 

a private treaty with his prisoner King James invasion of 
of Scotland, promising to let him return to '"^"'^^• 
his country after the campaign in France on certain 
specified conditions, among which it was agreed that 
he should take the command of a body of troops in aid 
of the English. James had accompanied him in his last 
campaign, and Henry had endeavored to make use of 
his authority to forbid the Scots in France from taking 
part in the war, but they had refused to acknowledge 
themselves bound to a king who was a captive. By this 
agreement, however, Henry obtained real assistance and 
co-operation from his prisoner, whom he employed, in 
concert with the Duke of Gloucester, in the siege of 
Dreux, which very soon surrendered. He himself mean- 
while marched towards the Loire to meet the dau- 
phin, and took Beaugency; then returning northwards, 
first reduced Villeneuve on the Yonne, and afterwards 
laid siege to Meaux on the Marne. The latter place 
held out for seven months, and while Henry girth of Henry 
lay before it, he received intelligence that ^^•' ^^^- ^• 
his queen had borne him a son at Windsor, who was 
christened Henry. 

4. The city of Meaux surrendered on May 10, 1422. 
The governor, a man who had been guilty of great 
cruelties, was beheaded, and his head and ^ ^ 1^22. 
body were suspended from a tree, on which ^^'^ ^°- 

he himself had caused a number of people to be hanged 
as adherents of the Duke of Burgundy. Henry was now 
master of the greater part of the north of France, and 



ii6 Henry V. ch. v. 

his queen came over from England to join him, with re- 
inforcements under his brother the Duke of Bedford. 
But he was not permitted to rest; for the dauphin, hav- 
ing taken from his ally the Duke of Burgundy the town 
of La Charte on the Loire, proceeded to lay siege to 
CCsne, and Philip, having applied to Henry for assist- 
ance, he sent forward the Duke of Bedford with his 
army, intending shortly to follow himself. This demon- 
stration was sufficient. The dauphin felt that he was too 
weak to contend with the united English and Burgun- 
dian forces, and he withdrew from the siege. 

5. Henry, however, was disabled from joining the 

army by a severe attack of dysentery ; and 
death of though he had at first hoped that he might 

be carried in a litter to head-quarters, he 
soon found that his illness was far too serious to permit 
him to carry out his intention. He was accordingly con- 
veyed back to Vincennes near Paris, where he grew so 
rapidly worse that it was evident his end was near. In 
a few brief words to those about him he declared his will 
touching the government of England and France after 
his death, until his infant son should be of age. The 
regency of France he committed to the Duke of Bedford, 
in case it should be declined by the Duke of Burgundy. 
That of England he gave to his other brother, Humphrey 
Duke of Gloucester. To his two uncles, Henry Beaufort, 
Bishop of Winchester, and Thomas Beaufort, Duke of 
Exeter, he entrusted the guardianship of his child. He 
besought all parties to maintain the alliance with Bur- 
gundy, and never to release the Duke of Orleans and the 
other prisoners of Agincourt during his son's minority. 

Having given these instructions he expired, 

on the last day of August, 1422. 

6. His death was bewailed both in England and 



1 42 1 . Menrfs Third Invasion of France. 117 

France with no ordinary regret. The great achieve- 
ments of his reign made him naturally a popular hero ; 
nor was the regard felt for his memory diminished when 
under the feeble reign of his son all that he had gained 
was irrecoverably lost again, so that nothing remained 
of all his conquests except the story of how they had 
been won. Those past glories, indeed, must have seemed 
all the brighter when contrasted with a present which 
knew but disaster abroad and civil dissension at home. 
The early death of Henry also contributed to the popular 
estimate of his greatness. It was seen that in a very few 
years he had subdued a large part of the territory of 
France. It was not seen that in the nature of things this 
advantage could not be maintained, and that even the 
greatest military talents would not have succeeded in 
preserving the English conquests. 

7. Nor can it be said that Henry's success, extra- 
ordinary as it was, was altogether owing to his own 
abilities. That he exhibited great qualities as a general, 
cannot be denied ; but these would have availed him 
little if the rival factions in France had not been far 
more bitterly opposed to each other than to him. In- 
deed, it is difficult after all to justify, even as a matter 
of policy, his interference in French affairs, except as a 
means of diverting public attention from the fact that 
he inherited from his father but an indifferent title even 
to the throne of England. And though success attended 
his efforts beyond all expectation, he most wilfully en- 
dangered the safety, not only of himself, but of his 
gallant army, when he determined to march with re- 
duced forces through the enemy's country from Harfleur 
to Calais. It was a rashness nothing less than culpable, 
but that in his own interest rashness was good policy. 
Unless he could succeed in desperate enterprises against 



ii8 HiUf-y V. CH. VI. 

ti-emendous odds and so make himself a military hero 
and a favorite of the multitude, his tlirone 1^'as insecure. 
He succeeded ; but it was only by staking everything 
upon the venture — his own safety and tliat of his whole 
ai'my, which if the French had exercised but a little 
more discretion, would inevitably have been cut to 
pieces or made prisoners to a man. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE COUNCIL OF COXSTAN'CE AND THE WAR IN 

BOHEMIA. 

I: In speaking of the visit of the Emperor Sigismund to 
England, we have already made allusion to the famous 
Council of Constance, which commenced its sittings in 
the year 141 5. But it is right that we should here give 
some account of what led to the meeting of that council, 
and also of what it did, and of the events to which its 
proceedings gave rise. 

2. It has been observed in a former chapter that on 
the election of Urban VI. at Rome in 137S, a portion of 
^, , . the cardinals set up a rival pope named 

The schism i i 

in the Clement VII. who brought back the see to 

papacy. Avignon and was recognized by France 

and some other countries. This Antipope Clement died 
in 1394; but the party which had adhered to him elected 
as his successor a native of AiTagon, who assumed the 
name of Benedict XIII. Meanwhile the other part\', 
which had adhered to Urban, elected a new pope on his 
death, and aftenvards tsvo more in succession, the last 
of whom was named Gresrorv XII. But efforts were 



I4IO. The Council of Constance, 119 

now made on both sides to terminate the evils of this 
long-continued schism. Benedict XIII. at Avignofn and 
Gregory XII. at Rome, were each elected under a pro- 
mise to resign if his rival would do the same, in order 
that a new pope might be chosen who should be acknow- 
ledged by both parties. But neither Gregory nor Bene- 
dict showed any wiUingness to give up his title for the 
good of Christendom, and, a council being Coanaiof 
held at Pisa in 1409, they were both deposed, 
and a new pope, Alexander V., elected in their place. 
The decision of the council, however, did not very much 
mend matters, for neither of the deposed popes would ac- 
knowledge its audiority, and the result was to make diree 
rival pontic instead of two. The validity of the act of 
deposition, however, was generally acknowledged, and 
when Alexander V. died the year after his 
election, he was succeeded by Cardinal 
Cossa, who called himself John XXIII. 

3. Now it must be mentioned that this schism in die 
papacy was also the cause of a succession of rival claim- 
ants to the throne of Naples ; for the kings i^j,^ Ma^ 
of Naples held their kingdom of the Pope as of ^^pfcs, 
their superior lord, and when Queen Joanna, who then 
ruled, adhered to the Avignon pope, Qemrait VII., she 
was deposed by a buU of the Roman Pop^ Urban VX, 
who called in Charles of Durazzo to give effect to his 
sentence. This Charles soon took posses- ^ 

^ A. D. 1382. 

sion of the kingdom and put Joanna to 
deadi ; but Louis Duke of Anjou, whom she had named 
as her successor, was crowned at Avignon by Clement 
VIL and went to Italy to dispute his title. T^nthin a 
very few years both die rivals died, leaving their pre- 
t^isions to th^ sons, who widi veiy varying fortune, 
each at times gaining great successes against the other. 



I20 Henry V. ch. vi. 

kept up the struggle for nearly thirty years. In 1399, 
the year when Henry IV. obtained the throne of England, 
Ladislaus, the king who adhered to the Roman pope, 
made himself for the time completely master of the king- 
dom, of which he kept undisturbed possession for ten 
years. During this interval he was also invited to be- 
come king of Hungary, and crowned in opposition to 
King Sigismund, who was afterwards Emperor. But in 
1408 his rival, Louis of Anjou, having been recalled by 
the Neapolitans, obtained a recognition of his title from 
the Council of Pisa and the new pope Alexander V. 
Two years later a battle took place between the two 
rivals, in which Ladislaus was utterly defeated, to the 
great delight of John XXIII., Alexander's successor, 
who denounced him as a heretic and published a cru- 
sade against him. Ladislaus was shortly afterwards 
driven to make his peace with Pope John ; but in 141 3 
he suddenly gained possession of Rome, and was medi- 
tating an attack on Bologna, whither John had retired, 
when he was seized with mortal illness. 

4. It was no great wonder that Ladislaus showed very 
little respect for the authority of Pope John. That pon- 
Pope John ^^^ \\2.di. been elected at Bologna, where his 
XXIII. predecessor died, by the influence of Louis 

of Anjou, the French king of Naples, who had at the 
time a fleet off Genoa intending to act against Ladislaus. 
Pope John was a Neapolitan by birth, and in his youth 
though he had already entered the Church, he had 
served at sea in the war between Louis and Ladislaus. 
Afterwards he had gone to Rome, where being made 
chamberlain to Pope Boniface IX., he had driven a trade 
in simony and the sale of indulgences. His morals were 
a matter of public scandal, and his election was a shock 
to all good men. But he was a man of great ability and 



I4IO. The Council of Constance. 121 

a consummate politician. Of course when he was made 
pope he took the part of Louis against Ladislaus ; but 
when Ladislaus took possession of Rome and drove him 
to Bologna, he suggested to Sigismund, who was now 
become emperor, the convocation of a general council 
to promote the peace of Europe by restoring unity to the 
Church. Sigismund acquiesced in the proposal and ap- 
pointed that the council should meet at Constance. By 
this time Pope John repented of the advice that he had 
given, as the death of Ladislaus left him free to go back 
to Rome ; but the matter was now settled. 

5. Besides the rival claims of three different popes, the 
council had to take into consideration the subject of 
heresy ; for the doctrines of Wycliffe had spread beyond 
England and were very popular in Bohemia. , , „ 
John Huss, the confessor of Sophia, Queen 
of Bohemia, was deeply imbued with them, and had 
translated several of Wycliffe's works into the Bohemian 
language. So great was the influence he had obtained 
that he was made rector of the university of Prague, and 
though excommunicated by the Archbishop of Prague, 
he gathered by his preaching a considerable party, till 
disturbances took place in public between his followers 
and the supporters of papal authority. These evils were 
aggravated by the publication of a bull of Pope John for 
a crusade against King Ladislaus — a project which Huss 
strongly denounced both by word and writing. People 
in the streets of Prague cried out that Pope John was Anti- 
christ. Some of the ringleaders were captured by the 
authorities and put to death in prison. But their parti- 
sans obtained possession of their bodies and carried 
them to different churches wrapped in cloth of gold, 
where the priests exhibited them to the assembled wor- 
shippers as saints and martyrs for the truth. 



122 Henry V, CH. vi. 

6. The Council at Constance was opened on Friday, 
November i6, 1414, Pope John himself presiding. The 

_, ^. ., Emperor Sisfismund arrived at Christmas. 

The Council _ . 

of Con- At the first session some one accused the Pope 

s ance. ^^^ long Catalogue of crimes, some of which 

were regarded as too scandalous to be divulged. He was 
struck with consternation at the indictment, and took 
counsel with a few confidential friends what to do. He 
confessed to them that some of the charges were true, 
but was disposed to take comfort in the thought that a 
pope could not be deposed except for heresy. He was, 
however, advised by his friends to resign, and 
March 2. ' this he promised to do on March 2, at the 
second session of the council. Shortly afterwards he 
escaped from the city in disguise, and resuming his 
authority, ordered the council to dissolve. But the 
council came to a determination that their authority as a 
general council was superior to that of the Pope himself, 
and that instead of their obeying the Pope, he was bound 
to obey them. Pope John was accordingly sent for and 
brought back to Constance; the charges against him 
were examined, and on May 29 he was deposed and 
thrown into prison. 

7. After this Gregory XII. submitted to the authority 
of the council, and his resignation of the papacy was 
received on July 4. Benedict XIII. , the one remaining 
claimant of pontifical honors, was in Spain, and some 
negotiation was required to induce him to resign as well. 
But the Emperor left the Council and went to Narbonne, 
where he had a meeting with the King of Arragon, who 
with the Kings of Castile, Navarre, and other countries 
which had hitherto supported Benedict, engaged by their 
ambassadors to withdraw their obedience from him ; after 
which he was deposed by the council on March 30, 1417. 



1 41 4* '^^^ Council of Constance. 123 

Thus, a way being opened for the election of a new pope 
with a valid title, a conclave was held at Con- 

A. D. 1417. 

Stance, in which Martin V. was chosen as Nov. n. 
head of the Church. 

8. John Huss had received a summons to appear 
before the council. He obtained a safe-conduct from 
the Emperor Sigismund, and arrived at Constance with 
a large suite of followers on November 3, 1414. On his 
way thither he had posted up placards in the different 
towns, offering to dispute with any one on matters of 
theology. He had challenged the Archbishop of Prague 
in this manner to a disputation before he left Bohemia. 
But he found Constance a very different place from his 
own city, and soon had cause to doubt about the treat- 
ment he should receive there notwithstanding his safe- 
conduct. He attempted to escape, but was brought back 
and committed to prison. Efforts were made to get him 
to retract his heresies, but in vain. The council passed 
sentence upon him, ordered his books to be burned, and 
himself to be degraded from the priesthood. Being then 
as a layman delivered over to the secular arm. Martyrdom 
he was by the authorities of Constance, con- \ d"i4i5. 
demned to be burned at the stake, — a fate J"^y ^• 
which he endured with great firmness and heroism. His 
ashes were then thrown into the Rhine, from a fear lest 
his disciples should preserve them as relics. 

9. The infliction of capital punishment, after he had 
received the Emperor's safe-conduct, was a thing which 
apart from the cruelty of the sentence, seemed inconsistent 
with good faith and honor. But in the eyes of the 
council heresy was a noxious disease which must be 
suppressed at any cost for the good of the whole Christian 
world; and the Emperor's safe-conduct, it was consid- 
ered, was only intended to assure his safety in coming 



124 Henry V. ch. vi. 

up to Constance and pleading his own cause before the 
council. It gave him an opportunity of vindicating his 
doctrine by argument, if it could be vindicated to the 
council's satisfaction , but it was no more intended to 
protect an obstinate heretic than if he had been a mur- 
derer. As John Huss had failed to justify his doctrines to 
the satisfaction of the council, and refused to abandon them 
at their bidding, his safe-conduct availed him no further. 

10. The attention of the council was at the same time 
called to the doctrines of his master, Wycliffe, which 
were likewise condemned as heretical ; and so anxious 
were the assembled fathers to give effect to their censure 
that they ordered Wycliffe's bones to be dug up and 
burned. This sentence was put in execution in England 
shortly afterwards, and the Reformer's ashes were thrown 
into a rivulet which flows by the town of Lutterworth. 

11. Before the condemnation of Huss, his friend and 
most devoted follower, Jerome of Prague, was also cited 

Jerome of before the council. He had already come to 
Prague. Constance, but finding that Huss had been 

thrown into prison he withdrew, and wrote to the Em- 
peror from Uberlingen, desiring a safe-conduct to return. 
He also caused placards to be set upon the church doors 
at Constance, offering to come and clear himself from 
the imputation of heresy if no violence were offered him. 
It was in answer to this that the summons was sent out 
against him. Jerome, meanwhile, receiving no satisfac- 
tory assurances of safety, was making his way back to 
Bohemia, but he was arrested on the road and brought 
back to Constance. After the sentence executed upon 
Huss he made a retractation, but, doubts being enter- 
tained as to the sincerity of his conversion, he was sub- 
jected to further examination, and confessed that he 
had only been driven to recant by fear. He denounced 



141 6. The Council of Constance. 125 

his own cowardice, recalled what he had said, and ex- 
pressed his full adhesion to the doctrines of Wycliffe 
and Huss. Sentence of condemnation was accordingly 
passed against him as a relapsed heretic, and on May 
30, 1 41 6, he suffered the same fate that Huss had 
suffered nine months before. His fortitude at the last, 
like that of Huss, struck beholders with admiration. 
The learned Poggio Bracciolini, who, by his examina- 
tion of convent libraries, recovered a number of the 
writings of the ancient classic authors which had been 
lost to the world for centuries, was present at his trial 
and execution. The learning and eloquence of Jerome 
won his highest admiration, and his constancy at the 
stake he could not help comparing with that of Socrates 
when he drank the cup of hemlock. 

12. The executions of Huss and Jerome of Prague 
were intended to promote peace and religious union 
throughout Christendom. They brought anything but 
peace, however, to Bohemia, the country to which the 
two martyrs belonged. No sooner was the execution of 
Huss known at Prague than a great sedition Troubles in 
arose. His followers attacked the palace of Bohemia. 
the archbishop and the houses of the orthodox clergy. 
The Bohemian nobles wrote an indignant letter to the 
council, whom they accused of putting to death as a 
heretic a man who had not been convicted of any error, 
and they declared their intention of appealing from the 
council to the future pope against his condemnation. 
But stronger measures were taken by John 
Ziska of Trocznow, chamberlain of Wences- leader of the 
laus, King of Bohemia, the deposed empe- ^ ^"i' " • 
ror. This Ziska was a man of considerable experience 
in war, who had lost an eye in battle. In 1410 he had 
lent his services to Jagellon, King of Poland, and dis- 



126 Henry K ch. vi. 

tinguished himself at the great battle of Tannenberg 
against the Teutonic knights. He was a personal friend 
of Huss, and resented his persecution besides as an 
affront to the people of Bohemia. The same feeling was 
largely shared by the peasantry, who assembled in great 
numbers to revenge the martyr's death, and chose Ziska 
for their leader. 

13. The death of Jerome, added to that of Huss, in- 
creased their indignation. Great disturbances took 
place, which King Wenceslaus, who partly sympathized 
with the Hussites, was unable to appease. He conceded 
to them the use of a number of churches in which they 
might administer the sacrament to the people in both 
kinds ; but while the Catholic party did all in their 
power to resist this innovation, the Hussites only in- 
creased their demands. Wenceslaus in vain endeavored 
to temporize. The government of Prague was in the 
hands of the Catholics, but on July 30, 1419, a collision 
took place between the two parties in the streets ; on 
which the Hussites, under Ziska, attacked the town hall, 
and having forced an entrance, threw the magistrates 
out of the windows. The mob below received them on 
the points of lances. 

14. King Wenceslaus was much agitated on receiving 
the news of this outrage, and died a few days after. His 
brother, the Emperor Sigismund, succeeeded him as 
King of Bohemia. But the Hussites, remembering the 
persecution of their leader, refused to acknowledge his 
title, and Ziska overthrew his troops in numerous en- 
gagements, although the Pope, to assist the Emperor, 
proclaimed a crusade against the heretics. In the course 
of these wars Ziska lost his other eye ; but he still con- 
tinued to lead the insurgents with vigor, and soon suc- 
ceeded in driving the Emperor out of Bohemia. 



1 41 6. The Council of Constance. 127 

15. Such was the state of matters in that kingdom at 
the time when Henry V. of England died. Sigismund 
had for the time lost possession of his kingdom, and 
armies were being raised by the German electors to assist 
him to recover it. But these armies, too, were defeated 
by the victorious Ziska, who maintained the cause of the 
Hussites successfully till his death in 1424 ; and even for 
several years after that they were victorious under other 
leaders. Divisions, however, sprang up among them- 
selves which were far more disastrous to their cause than 
all the armies sent against them. The first insurgents 
under Ziska encamped upon a hill, named by them 
Mount Tabor, about fifty miles south of Prague. This 
hill was all but completely surrounded by the river Lusch- 
nitz, a tributary of the Moldau, so that it could not be ap- 
proached except upon one side without crossing the 
stream. Taking advantage of this position Ziska con- 
verted his camp into a fortified town, and his followers 
obtained the name of Taborites. Other sections of the 
party were called Horebites, Orphanites, and Calixtines. 
There was also a very repulsive sect of fanatics called the 
Adamites, who went about naked after the manner of 
our first parents. This latter sect Ziska had made war 
upon, nor do they appear to have been at any time part 
of the Hussite party ; but their mere existence serves to 
mark how greatly the people of Bohemia were at this 
time influenced by religious ideas of the most extrava- 
gant description. So little had the Council of Constance 
done to put an end to heresy ! 

16. The Council of Basle which met in 143 1 adopted 
a different line of policy. As the burning of heretics, 
instead of confuting their arguments, had 

not restored peace to the Church, this coun- ofBasle""*^' 
oil used every means in its power to assure 



128 Henry V. CH. vi. 

the Hussites that they might come and discuss their 
doctrines before them in perfect freedom and security. 
Won by this invitation, Procopius, surnamed the 
Shaven, general of the Taborities, came to Basle with a 
number of his followers. The matters in controversy 
between them and the Church were discussed at length ; 
and some concessions were made by the council, es- 
pecially permitting the laity to partake of the commu- 
nion in both kinds. On this a large number of the Hus- 
sites became reconciled to the Church. The remainder 
still held out ; but their strength was broken, and after 
some defeats they agreed to recognize Sigismund as 
their king, so that in the year 1436 he entered Prague 
triumphantly. Still disaffection was not at an end, and 
long after the death of Sigismund religious factions con- 
tinued to agitate Bohemia. Even two centuries later 
the Bohemians rose in arms and commenced a long and 
bloody war to vindicate anew those principles for which 
the Hussites had contended. 



CHAPTER VII. 

HENRY VI. 

I. The King's Minority and the French War. 

I. The death of Henry V. was an event which the 
English could not help feeling as a calamity of no ordi- 
nary kind. No other of their kings had ever been so 
lamented. In his brief reign of nine years and a half he 
had done more than Edward III. and the Black Prince 
had succeeded in effecting. He had virtually added 
another kingdom to his inheritance — a kingdom larger, 
richer, and with a finer climate than his own. He had 



1431- The Kin^ s Minority. 129 

compelled the King of France to disinherit his own son 
and to adopt him as his heir, with the concurrence of the 
estates of the realm. Yet he was called away before he 
could secure these advantages on a satisfactory basis, 
and he was obliged to leave to others the task of vindi- 
cating for his son against the dauphin the rights that had 
been conceded to him by the treaty of Troyes. 

2. It was a task that occupied the attention and fully 
engaged the energies of all England for a long time after. 
Nothing is more remarkable in the history of the next 
twenty years than the almost total absence of domestic 
events of any interest. The whole mind of ^ , , 

•' . . t/ngland 

the nation was absorbed with the war in wholly oc- 
France, and even the arrangements for the the French 
government at home were at first of subor- ^^''• 
dinate importance. The crown of England was no 
longer a question in dispute. Though the son of Henry 
was an infant of only nine months old, the claims of the 
Earl of March were not for a moment thought of. Every 
Englishman desired that infant peacefully to succeed his 
father. The title to the crown of France was the only 
thing in question, and to maintain that every nerve was 
strained : on France all eyes were riveted. 

3. One domestic question, however, had to be settled 
at the outset. According to the constitution of England 
all acts of government emanate from the king ; but when 
the king, either from being under age or from some 
other disqualification, is unable to act himself, his au- 
thority devolves upon the great council of the lords, who, 
if he were capable of acting, would be his natural ad- 
visers. This authority the lords on the pre- ^, 

The council 

sent occasion were solicited to yield up to will not 

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who regency in 

claimed the regency under the will of the E^s^^iid. 

K 



130 Henry VI. ch. vii. 

late King his brother. But the council withstood his 
claim, and when Parliament assembled, the House of 
Lords determined that the late King's will on this point 
was invalid, not being warranted by precedent or con- 
stitutional usage. The Duke of Gloucester was empow- 
ered to act, but only with the consent of the council, as 
the young King's representative in summoning and dis- 
solving Parliament. He was admitted to be the King's 
chief councillor in the absence of his brother Bedford ; 
and an act was passed committing to him in Bedford's 
absence the care of defending the kingdom, with the ti- 
tle of Protector. But his functions in this respect were 
very limited, and the real work of government was 
entrusted to a committee of lords and commoners. 

4. As for France,- King Charles, according to Henry's 
dying request, first offered the regency to the Duke of 

, _ , , Burgundy, and on his refusal gave it to Bed- 

TheDukeof ^ J> & _ 

Bedford Re- ford. He was at first to govern m the name 
gent in ranee. ^^ Charles ; but within two months after 
the death of Henry, the unhappy King of France 

also died. The infant who had already suc- 
Oct. 21. •' 

ceeded to the throne of England by the name 

of Henry VI. was now, by the treaty of Troves, King of 

France as well, and had in his uncle Bedford the ablest 

administrator that could have been found to advance his 

interests there. The dauphin, however, on his father's 

death, of course claimed to succeed him. The English 

laughed at his pretensions, and called him in mockery 

the King of Bourges ; but he was acknowledged south of 

the Loire to the borders of Guienne, and he had no lack 

of good soldiers, both of his own country and of the Scots, 

to assist him in recovering his inheritance. 

5. In accordance with the advice of Henry V. to 
preserve at all hazards the friendship of the Duke of 



1422. The King^s Minority. 131 

Burgundy, Bedford began by marrying that duke's sister. 
He also promoted another marriage by which the duchy 
of Brittany was for a time won over to the league against 
Charles VIL, and nearly the whole sea-coast of France 
was placed practically in the power of the English. These 
marriages took place amid the stir and bustle of war, and 
small time was wasted by the duke in wedding festivities. 
The enemy had surprised various places in Champagne 
and even in Normandy. But Bedford sent an army into 
Burgundy under the Earl of Salisbury, who after an 
obstinate battle raised the siege of Crevant on the Yonne. 
For some years afterwards the war went on 

• Progress of 

very favorably to England. The great victory the English 
of Verneuil in 1424 opened to the English the 
way into the province of Maine, which they reduced with 
ease. The affairs of Charles were in a desperate con- 
dition, and would probably have been still more so but 
for dissensions which sprang up among the English at 
home between the Duke of Gloucester and Henry Beau- 
fort, Bishop of Winchester, the Lord Chancellor, of 
which we shall give an account hereafter. 

6. To put an end to the interference of Scotland in 
the war with France, the English council determined in 
1423 to fulfil the promise made by Henry V. Liberation of 
to liberate King James and restore him to his J^mes I. 
country. Accordingly, after an unjust confinement of 
more than eighteen years, the ambitious Duke of Albany 
being now dead, James was set at liberty for a ransom of 
40,000 pounds, on swearing to a treaty by which the 
kings of England and Scotland were forbidden to assist 
each other's enemies. To engage James still further to 
the English interest he was given in marriage Lady Jane 
Beaufort, sister of the Duke of Somerset, a lady for whom 
he had conceived a great affection, and the sum of 



132 Henry VI. ch. vii. 

10,000 marks was deducted from his ransom for her 
dower. 

II. The Siege of Orleans. Joan of Arc. 

1. By the ability and vigor of the Duke of Bedford's 
administration the Enghsh not only succeeded in main- 
taining their conquests for several years, but even gained 
ground upon their enemies. For a time they made them- 
selves undisputed masters of nearly the whole territory 
north of the Loire ; and in the summer of 1428 it was 
determined to make one great effort to drive the forces 
of Charles south of that river. Accordingly, reinforce- 
ments having arrived from England under the Earl of 
Salisbury, an advance was made upon Orleans. After 
Siege of taking several places round about, the 
Orleans. English laid siege to the city in October. 
The undertaking was a great one. Salisbury caused 
sixty forts to be built about the city, to prevent succors 
being sent in ; and on six of the largest he planted 
batteries which opened fire upon the walls. In course 
of time the English gained possession of a tower which 
commanded the city. From a window in this tower 
Salisbury one day took a survey of the fortifications, 
when a shot from the besieged shattered the iron case- 
ment, so that the earl was mortally wounded by the 
fragments. His command was immediately taken by 
the Earl of Suffolk. 

2. The siege continued for several months, and in the 
spring of the following year gave rise to a remarkable 

action called the Battle of Herrings. At the 

A. D. 1429, 

Battle of beginning of Lent Sir John Fastolf, a brave 

emngs. warrior, who, having distinguished himself 

at Agincourt and elsewhere, had been entrusted with 

the government of Normandy, and afterwards with that 



1429. The Siege of Orleans. 133 

of Anjou and Maine, was commissioned by the Regent 
to conduct a convoy of provisions, chiefly consisting of 
salt fish, to Orleans for the use of the besiegers. The 
French, having ascertained that such a convoy was to 
be sent, determined to intercept it upon the road. Fas- 
tolf had an escort of 1,700 men, but the enemy came 
upon him in superior numbers. He, how- 
ever, entrenched his men behind the wag- 
ons containing the provisions, and they not only 
sustained the attack without flinching, but fought so 
bravely that they threw their assailants into confusion. 
As soon as it appeared that they began to give way, 
Fastolf ordered the barricade to be removed, and the 
enemy were pursued with very great slaughter. Among 
the slain were six-and-twenty officers of distinction. 

3. The fall of Orleans seemed now inevitable. The 
policy of undertaking the siege of such a city had been 
doubted by Bedford in the first instance. The effort 
had certainly taxed the resources of England to the ut- 
most ; but apparently it was about to be crowned with 
success. Charles expected to be driven entirely from 
the central parts of France, and talked of retiring into 
Dauphine. A proposal was made by the French to put 
Orleans into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy. It 
was scouted by the Regent Bedford in terms which per- 
haps increased the coolness of his ally. He was not 
the man, he said, to beat the bush that others might 
catch the birds. The besieged were reduced to almost 
utter despair, when one of the most marvellous occur- 
rences in history put an end to their suspense. 

4. In the month of February, 1429 — about the very 
time that Sir John Fastolf disconcerted the attempt of 
the French to surprise his convoy of herrings — a young 
woman in a remote province of France presented herself 



134 Henry VI. CH. vii. 

before the commanding officer of the district, declaring 
that she had a divine commission to succor Orleans and 
to conduct King Charles to Rheims, to be crowned after 
the manner of his ancestors. The name of this enthu- 
siast was Jeanne d'Arc, or as some French antiquarians 
prefer to write it, Dare ; but for ages the French them- 
Joan of selves have spelt it with an apostrophe, and 

in English we have been accustomed to 
call her Joan of Arc. She was a native of the village 
of Domremy, on the Meuse, in the Duchy of Bar, on the 
borders of Lorraine. She was of poor but pious parents. 
Even from her girlish years she had seen visions and 
heard voices from Heaven, and so persuaded was she 
of her divine mission that she had kept herself unmarried 
against the wish of her father. The officer to whom she 
made known her intentions naturally thought her at first 
a person of deranged intellect ; but on further consider- 
ation he determined to comply with her request and send 
her to King Charles, who was then at Chinon in Tou- 
raine. Dressed and armed like a man, she set out in 
the company of two neighbors, a herald, an archer, 
and two pages, on a journey of almost two hundred and 
fifty miles, through a country intersected by numerous 
rivers and mostly in the possession of the English. On 
March 5 she arrived at Chinon, after eleven days' trav- 
elling. 

5. On her coming to the King it is related that she 

gave evidence, in more ways than one, of the possession 

,, „ of supernatural gifts. It is said that she 

Marvellous .^, , ^, , . ,., - , . 

stories about identified Charles m a dress like that of his 

courtiers, and revealed to him a secret 

known only to himself. She also demanded and had 

given to her a sword, from a church in Touraine ; which 

sword, according to the most marvellous reports, she 



1429. The Siege of Orleans. 135 

described minutely before seeing it, although it was 
buried in the ground beneath the altar. Whatever may 
have been the facts, she succeeded in persuading people 
that she had been sent either by God or by the Devil. 
Belief in all sorts of occult influences was in this age 
particularly strong, and Charles commissioned a number 
of divines to inquire as to the source of her inspiration. 
The purity of her patriotism — ^the genuineness of her 
religious feeling — were such as to make a sinister inter- 
pretation impossible, and the divines reported that she 
had clearly a call from Heaven. She was accordingly 
furnished with a charger, a suit of armor, and a banner 
after her own directions ; and with a squire and three 
other attendants she set forth upon her mission. She 
sent a formal summons to the Duke of Bedford to raise 
the siege as he would avoid the wrath of God. This the 
English treated with the contempt which might have 
been expected. But the Maid came to Blois where a 
force had assembled to make a great effort for the relief 
of Orleans. She was allowed to take the command of 
this detachment, and she gave stringent orders to free 
the camp of all loose characters, and ordered every 
soldier to be confessed. She then, by a rapid march, 
arrived in two days before Orleans. After the first 
night's camping out she took the sacrament in presence 
of the troops. A multitude of dissolute soldiers, sud- 
denly animated by a new spirit, bent their knees before 
their priests and did the same. The whole army was 
raised out of despondency to the highest pitch of enthu- 
siasm ; and rumors of the holiness and of the miracles 
of the Maid were repeated even in the English camp. 

6. Even where her over-confidence might have been 
disastrous it had the effect of increasing her repute. 
She had proposed to come upon Orleans by the right 



136 Henry VI. ch. vii. 

bank of the Loire through the thick of the Enghsh army. 
In this she was overruled by the generals, who took her 
the other way. But when she saw the river between her 
and the city, she insisted that the troops should return 
to Blois and go against Orleans by the north side. To 
satisfy her the main body of the army was dismissed, 
but she herself was persuaded to embark a few miles up 
the stream to conduct a convoy of provisions into the 
city. The wind and tide were contrary when she yielded 
to the entreaties of the marshals. But the wind changed, 
so that vessels came up from Orleans, and she em- 
barked. At nightfall she entered the city, bringing 
victuals and stores for the garrison. She was received 
as if she had been an angel from heaven, and rode 
through the streets on a white charger, amid the accla- 
mations of the people. 

7. After this she directed operations against some of 
the forts surrounding the city, and obtained possession 
of four successively after inflicting great losses on the 
besiegers. The English had lost all spirit for the fight. 
They were persuaded that a power now fought against 
them that was more than human. Already the siege had 
lasted seven months, and it was difficult to maintain the 
strain much longer. The besieging army withdrew on 
May 12, pursued by the French in its retreat. Misfor- 
fortunes began to overtake the English arms on all sides. 
The Earl of Suffolk was made prisoner at the capture of 
Jargeau. The brave Lord Talbot was made prisoner at 
the battle of Patay. The Regent Bedford was forced to 
return once more to Paris, and wrote home to the gov- 
ernment in England that the tide of success had been 
turned by " a limb of the Fiend," called by the enemy 
the Pucelle. Such were the terms in which even he did 
• not disdain to speak of the heroic Maid 1 



1429. Joan of Arc. 137 

8. She now persuaded Charles to march to Rheims 
that he might be crowned. He set out at the head of 
lo,<xx> men, summoning the towns to surrender as he 
went along. After a short resistance Troyes capitu- 
lated, and Chalons followed its example. The citizens 
of Rheims then drove out the English gar- 
rison, and presented the keys to Charles, crowSd^lt 
who entered the city in triumph. The coro- ^^j^'"^*' 
nation took place the day after. 

9. The Maid had accomplished her mission, and 
would now have withdrawn once more into private life ; 
but the King persuaded her to remain in his service, and 
expressed his gratitude for what she had done by grant- 
ing her native village of Domremy a perpetual exemp- 
tion from tributes. The effect of the coronation was seen 
immediately afterwards in the surrender of a large num- 
ber of other towns to Charles, while Bedford felt himself 
so weak that he did not dare hazard a blow in their de- 
fence. He sent pressing messages to England for re- 
inforcements, and urged that, to counterbalance the 
coronation of Charles, the boy King Henry should also 
be crowned king of France. The English council agreed 
with this advice, but thought it desirable that he should 
first be crowned in England. That cere- 
mony was accordingly performed on No- crowned in 
vember 6 at Westminster ; and as it implied Nov ^6*^' 
that Henry, though only eight years old, 

entered then on the actual functions of royalty, the 
Parliament decreed a few days later that the title of Pro- 
tector given to the Duke of Bedford and to Humphrey 
Duke of Gloucester should from that time cease. 

10. Two whole years elapsed after the coronation at 
Westminster before Henry could be crowned in France. 
He went thither in 1430, accompanied by a. d. 1430, 



138 Henry VL CH. vii. 

Cardinal Beaufort, leaving the Duke of Gloucester 
in England as guardian of the realm. He seems 
to have stayed at Rouen the whole of that year and the 
and in next, and only towards the close of the year 
a!^*^^43i. 143^ ^^ went to Paris, where he was crowned 
Dec. t6. Qn December 16. Bedford would fain have 

carried him through the country- to Rheims and had the 
ceremony performed there ; but it was found impossible 
to make the attempt ^\-ith safet>'. The journey, even to 
the capital, was not wholly free from danger ; for Charles 
had already approached dangerously near to Paris, while 
the Regent was in Normandy. The latter was also con- 
scious that he could not greatly rely on the constancy 
of the Duke of Burgundy, to whom he gave up the pro- 
vinces of Champagne and La Brie^ in order to secure 
his friendship. 

II. But in the meantime an event had occurred 
which revived considerably the spirits of the English. 
The Duke of Burgundy, gratified by the cession of 
Champagne, laid siege to Compiegne. The Pucelle, 
hearing of the attempt, threw herself into the town, not 
altogether, as it is supposed, to the satisfaction of the 
governor, who did not desire to share ^wath a woman the 
A. D. 1431 glo^-' of defending it. On May 25, 1431, she 
May 25. made a sortie, butwas obliged to retire. Her 
retreat, however, was cut off, orders having been given. 
Capture of either by mistake or malice, to shut the gates 
Joan of Arc. of the town and to raise the drawbridge. 
Under these circumstances she was compelled to yield 
herself a prisoner to the officers of the Duke of Bur- 
gundy. The English were delighted beyond measure at 

*La Brie was a district to the west of ChampagTie proDer. nearly 
corresponding with the modem department of Seine and Mame, 



1 431* His Coronation in Paris. 139 

the incident, and the Regent Bedford lost no time in 
obtaining from the Burgundian general her dehver}- into 
his own hands. The EngHsh government then instituted 
a process against her for witchcraft before ecclesiasncal 
judges, by whom she was found gTiilt}" ; but on recanting 
her pretensions of a divine mission her hfe was spared, 
and she was condemned to be imprisoned for life and 
fed on bread and water. This humiliation might have 
been sufficient to satisfy" the vengeance of her enemies ; 
but further punishment was in store for her. In her 
recantation she abjured from thenceforth the wearing of 
male attire ; but after her return to prison her own armor 
was left in her way, and she could not resist the tempta- 
tion to put it on. The act was observed by spies, a new 
information was laid against her, and it was at once 
determined to carry out the capital sentence already 
passed upon her, as upon a relapsed heretic, gjjg j^ turned 
She was burned to death in the market-place ^ ^ iieredc. 
at Rouen, on May 30, 1431. 

12. The cruelt}- and \dndictiveness of this wicked act 
did not help to retrieve the fortunes of the Enghsh in 
France. Superstitious fear seems to have largely in- 
fluenced her persecutors, but they were not reheved from 
it by her death. The Church had pronounced sentence 
upon her, most of the judges were her own countr\Tnen, 
and even Charles did not make an effort to save her ; 
but the Enghsh themselves could not feel satisfied that 
all was fair. The majority* might still talk of her as a 
witch and a sorceress, but those who had witnessed her 
deeds and sufferings were not without a sense that an 
innocent woman had been slain and that God would 
take vengeance on the act. The war went on languidly. 
The French obtained possession of Chartres, and the 
lukewannness of Burgundy as an ally was mere manifest 



140 Henry VI. CH. vii. 

every day. At home, people were becoming weary of 
the cost of the protracted struggle. Efforts were made 
by the Pope to negotiate a peace, which came to nothing, 
as the English refused to acknowledge Charles as King 
of France. But Bedford himself was well aware that 
his power of maintaining the struggle was no longer 
what it had been. 

III. Gloucester and Beaufort. Negotiations for Peace. 

1. In England, from the very beginning of Henry's 
reign, there had been a struggle for power between Hum- 
phrey Duke of Gloucester and Henry Beaufort, Bishop of 
Winchester, afterwards Cardinal. The former was the 
brother, the latter the uncle, of the late King Henry V. 
Rival of the ^^ have already mentioned that the council 
Duke of Glou- from the first disallowed the claim of Glou- 

CGStcr ciriQ 

Beaufort Bishop cestcr to be regent under his brother's will, 
of Winchester. ^^^ appointed him merely Protector. But 
the duke was dissatisfied with his limited powers, and 
showed a great inclination to presume upon his position 
as the King's leading councillor. Beaufort took the lead 
in opposing these pretensions, and his opposition to the 
duke led to a number of unseemly quarrels, in which 
the bishop had certainly the advantage in point of wis- 
dom, while his rival endangered the affairs of the whole 
kingdom by his extraordinary indiscretion. At one time 
his conduct, besides being scandalous in point of mo- 
rality, very nearly alienated the Duke of Burgundy from 
the English alliance. He enjoyed, however, considerable 
popularity, and was called "the good Duke Humphrey," 
while the manifest ambition of Beaufort, and the fact of 
his being a churchman, prevented him from gaining the 
entire good-will of the nation. 

2. In 1427 Beaufort received from the Pope the 



1 43 1- Gloucester and Beaufort. 141 

dignity of cardinal, and was shortly after appointed papal 
legate in England. This at once created a ^ 

1 • r J- A T 1 Beaufort 

new subject 01 dispute. A cardinal was a made a 
servant of the Church, not of the State. He 
was a vassal of the Pope, not a minister of England; 
and the question was raised whether by the mere accept- 
ance of such a position Beaufort had any longer a right 
to sit in the King's council or to enjoy the revenues of 
the bishopric of Winchester. Gloucester strongly urged 
his exclusion, and for some time the council entertained 
so much doubt upon the question that they refused to 
come to a decision, and desired the cardinal to abstain 
from attending the chapters of the Garter till the King 
should come of age. 

3. The cardinal, however, soon made it evident that 
his promotion in the Church did not by any means make 
him less zealous for the interests of his country. It was 
Rome he intended to betray, not England. His dignity 
had been conferred on him that he might make war on 
heretics, and the Pope had issued a bull for The cm- 
a crusade against the Hussites in Bohemia. ^^^^ 

" against the 

Beaufort petitioned the King's council for Hussites. 
leave to publish it in England, and to collect subscrip- 
tions and raise men for the enterprise. This was 
granted, but the number of men was reduced to half of 
the demand on the ground that men were so much 
needed for the defence of the kingdom. Still, it was the 
Church's cause. Englishmen were invited by the car- 
dinal to enlist for the benefit of their souls. A force was 
conveyed across the sea ; but before it left England, it 
was arranged between the council and the cardinal that 
it should be detained in France and employed against 
the enemies of England. Joan of Arc had already 
raised the siege of Orleans, and was conveying Charles 



142 Henry VI. ch. vii. 

to be crowned at Rheims. It was a great crisis, and 
Beaufort could excuse himself to the Pope by pretending 
that the expedition had been diverted from its professed 
object against his will. 

4. By this discreditable juggle the cardinal had at 
least proved to the satisfaction of the council and the 
House of Lords that he preferred at heart the interests 
of his country to those of the Church. Notwithstanding 
that the fact was unprecedented of a cardinal taking part 
in the deliberations of the King's council, he was invited 
to resume his seat there on the understanding that he 
should absent himself whenever matters came to be dis- 
cussed between England and the court of Rome. Both 
Beaufort's Houses of Parliament commended his loy- 
ascendancy. ^jty, and it was evident that he had com- 
pletely re-established his ascendancy. Duke Humphrey, 
on the other hand, was divested of his title of Protector 
at the coronation, and though he never desisted, while 
he lived, from his efforts to supplant or injure his rival, 
those efforts were from this time utterly ineffectual. 

5. These disputes at home affected seriously the inter- 
ests of England in the war with France ; and after the 
humiliation inflicted on the English arms by Joan of 
Arc, other causes contributed to render the struggle al- 
together a hopeless one for England. The Duke of 
Burgundy cooled in his friendship for his allies. The 

Duchess of Bedford, his sister, died. Con- 

Pg3.cg coil" 

ferences, ferenccs for peace took place at Arras, and 
A. D. 1435. ^^^^^ ^j^^.^ failure the Duke of Burgundy 

made a separate treaty with France. The English wished 
for a termination of the war, but still looked upon the 
whole of France as theirs by right, and would only con- 
sent to allow Charles a portion of his own dominions as 
A. ». 1435- an appanage for which he was to do fealty. 

ocpt. 14* 



1436. Gloucester and Beaufort. 143 

At length the Regent Bedford died, heart-broken at 
seeing his whole policy undermined. Owing to di- 
vided counsels, the English government delayed 
the appointment of his successor until the ^ j, j^^e. 
French had already retaken Paris ; and -^P"^ ^3- 
though the man whom they at length appointed as regent 
proved himself both a statesman and a general of great 
ability, he was ill-supported at home, and after a very 
short time he was recalled. 

6. That man was Richard Duke of York, the son of 
that Earl of Cambridge who was put to death for con- 
spiracy against Henry V. (See Chap. V. iii. Richard 

5, 6.) After his appointment he retook a ^"'^^ °^ 
number of towns and castles which had been 
lost, but he had not been a twelvemonth Regent when 
he was recalled, and his place was given to Richard 
Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who did nothing remarka- 
ble, and died two years after his appointment. York 
was then made Regent a second time ; but 

A. D. 1440. 

It was now utterly impossible for the English 
to do more than stand on the defensive. The loss of the 
Burgundian alliance made it difficult for them to hold 
their own in a hostile country, and endangered even 
Calais, which lay near Philip's Flemish territories. He 
had, in fact, already once laid siege to it, and was only 
driven away by an army sent over into Normandy under 
the Duke of Gloucester. 

7. Both countries had great cause to wish for peace, 
France was overrun by robber bands, popularly called 
tcorcheurs, or flayers, who not only waylaid ^ , , 

^ •' •' Robber 

and plundered their victims, but stripped bands in 
them of every vestige of clothing, leaving 
them nothing but their shirts. These freebooters attacked 
defenceless men of either party, and could not be con- 



144 Henry VI. ch. vi. 

trolled by either government. Nothing could exceed the 
misery of a country so long desolated by war and rapine. 

8. But the need of peace for England was even greater, 
and the English council, under the guidance of Cardinal 
Beaufort, thought that it might be promoted by the 

Liberation liberation of the Duke of Orleans, who had 
^f m ^"^^ remained a prisoner in England ever since 
the days of Agincourt. This proposition was 
directly opposed to the advice given by Henry V. on his 
death-bed, and it met with the strongest opposition from 
the Duke of Gloucester ; but the young King, who was 
now rapidly advancing to manhood, deferred much more 
to the advice of his grand-uncle the cardinal than to that 
of his uncle Gloucester. The Duke of Orleans engaged 
that if permitted to return to his country he would use 
his best efforts for peace. He took oath never to bear 
arms against England, and to pay a ransom of 6o,cxdo 
crowns, which was to be remitted to him if his efforts for 
peace were successful ; and he was allowed to go. 

9. When the Duke of Orleans v»ras about to take this 
oath, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, to show his dis- 
pleasure, abruptly left the council and took his barge. 
His feelings were undoubtedly shared by a large part of 
the nation ; but his influence was less than it had ever 
been, and next year he was made to undergo a great 
humiliation. His private life had been very discredit- 
able. He had married in 1423 the heiress of the Count of 
Hainault, a lady who had a husband then alive, and who 
had only been able to obtain a divorce from him by ap- 
plying to the Antipope Benedict. To vindicate his claim 
to her possessions he had invaded the Low Countries, 
and by so doing had almost provoked the Duke of Bur- 
gundy even then to renounce his alhance with England. 
Yet after all he got tired of her, and began to take plea- 



1 441- Negotiations for Peace. 145 

sure in the society of another woman named Eleanor 
Cobham, whom he first made his mistress and afterwards 
his wife. At the period of which we are now speaking 
this woman was called Duchess of Gloucester. 

10. Suddenly the Duchess Eleanor was accused of 
witchcraft and treason. Roger Bolingbroke, a chaplain 
of the duke her husband, was famous for his 

A. D. 1441. 

astronomical learning and had been led by The Du- 
the study of occult science to practise the art Gloucester 
of necromancy. He was arrested, and exhibit- ^"j^chcraf/ 
ed at St. Paul's some wax images and other 
apparatus with which he had practised divination ; after 
which he was drawn, hanged, and quartered. But it was 
found that he and one Margery Jourdemain, commonly 
called the Witch of Eye, had been employed by the 
duchess to destroy the King's life by incantations. The 
process consisted in making an image of wax like the 
King which they by degrees consumed, with various 
spells, it being expected that the King's life would 
gradually waste away as the image was acted upon. 

11. It would seem that Dame Eleanor had been origi- 
nally led to take counsel of these persons by her own 
anxiety to know her future destiny. If Henry happened 
to die unmarried or without an heir, her husband stood 
next in the succession, and the prospect of being one day 
queen inflamed her ambition. She inquired of the magi- 
cian and of the witch how long Henry was likely to live ; 
and from this it was but a short step to use the forbidden 
arts to hasten his end. Her ambition, however, was her 
ruin ; and the discovery of her dealings with the sorcerers 
threw additional discredit on her whole past life. It was 
declared that she had originally employed love potions 
to secure the affections of the duke, and to draw him 
into his second, not very creditable marriage. Never- 

L 



146 Henry VI. ch. vit. 

theless, out of consideration for the duke, the punish- 
ment of her crime against the King was mitigated. 
Instead of being made to suffer as a traitor, she was com- 
pelled to do public penance for her breach of Christian 
morality. On three different days she walked through 
the streets of London with a taper in her hand; after 
which she was handed over to the custody of Sir Thomas 
Stanley, to be imprisoned for life. Her accomplice, the 
Witch of Eye, was apprehended at Westminster, and 
was burned to death at Smithfield the day after Boling- 
broke's execution. 

IV. The Kings Marriage. Deaths of Gloucester and 
Beaufort. 

1. The young King had now come to years of maturity, 
but he had received his political education mainly from 

Cardinal Beaufort, and he displayed little in- 

Henry s . ^ "^ 

character. dependence of judgment as he grew up. He 
was a prince of amiable disposition, and free from all the 
ordinary forms of youthful vice, but his intellectual 
endowments were slender, and he became a complete 
partizan of his grand-uncle the cardinal. His uncle 
Gloucester he looked upon with positive aversion, partly 
perhaps in consequence of his immoral life and the 
scandal arising from the incident of Eleanor Cobham, 
but also, no doubt, in great part for his persistent advo- 
cacy of the policy of continuing the war. For Henry's 
ardent love for peace, associated in his mind with the 
principles of Christianity and religion, on which he de- 
sired his government to be founded, caused him to give 
ready ear to politicians who offered to point out a way 
of terminating the long-standing war with France. 

2. Among these politicians there was now another be- 
sides Beaufort who began to have considerable influence. 



1444' ^^ King^s Marriage. 147 

William de la Pole. Earl of Suffolk, the 

second son of that earl who had been chan- TheEari of 

cellor to Richard II. — a brave man, who had motes the°" 

distinguished himself in battle with the king's mar- 

o riage with 

French, and had once been taken prisoner Margaret of 

^. f. , Anjou. 

— urged upon Henry the policy of a match 
with Margaret daughter of Rene Duke of Anjou, titular 
King of Naples and Jerusalem. She was a woman of 
great force of character and considerable personal 
attractions. But the motive which decided Henry in her 
favor was the same that had induced him to liberate the 
Duke of Orleans. Her father was the brother of 
Charles's queen, Mary of Anjou; and Henry considered 
that by marrying Margaret he would open a surer way 
for peace with France than by any other method. He 
accordingly commissioned Suffolk to negotiate the 
match, and a treaty of peace or truce at the same time. 

3. The task was a delicate one. English prejudice 
might be expected to view such a marriage with dislike, 
not only because the lady was related to the French king, 
but because the compact for her marriage included a 
cession of territory to her father. The provinces of 
Maine and Anjou which were then partly in the posses- 
sion of the English and partly were continually overrun 
by them, were to be given up to Ren6, while at the same 
time, in consideration of Rene's poverty, Henry was to 
accept his daughter without a marriage portion. Suffolk, 
however, accepted the commission, and met the Duke 
of Orleans at Tours, with whom he arranged a truce pre- 
paratory to a more enduring peace. The marriage treaty 
was then concluded, and Suffolk shortly after his return 
home went over again as Henry's proxy to 
marry her and convey her to England. She Henry marries 
accordingly crossed the sea and landed at ^^' ^^ ^°' 



148 Henry VI. ch, vii. 

Porchester, was married to Henry in person at Titchfield 
a few days after, and a month later was crowned at 
Westminster. 

4. Suffolk now rose highly in the royal favor. He 
was raised from the dignity of earl to that of marquis, 
Suffolk is made and four years later to that of duke. The 
a duke. Queen especially felt that she owed him 
much, and the Queen now ruled the King. Suffolk 
became the leading councillor, whose ascendancy was 
past dispute. The Duke of Gloucester had less weight 
than ever, and even Cardinal Beaufort was thrown into 
the shade. But on one point he knew that his conduct 
could not escape criticism. No one ventured to speak 
a word against the King's marriage itself. The Duke of 
Gloucester even headed an address in parliament, recom- 
mending Suffolk to the King's favor for promoting it. 
But the terms on which it had been negotiated were such 
as could not possibly be acceptable to the nation, and 
notwithstanding many precautions taken by Suffolk to 
guard himself against censure, a day of reckoning was 
not far off. It was not merely that the giving had been 
all on one side, and that Henry had accepted a bride 
without a portion ; but he had given up to King Rene, 
the ally and relative of Charles, two rich and important 
provinces which were the keys of Normandy. More- 
over, peace was not made, because, as might have been 
expected/ the very anxiety for it manifested by Henry 
only served too well the purposes of Charles. Truce 
only was concluded from time to time with a view to a 
more lasting treaty, but difficulties were always found 
about the final settlement, and in the meanwhile the 
English still put off the fulfilment of the compact with 
regard to the cession of Maine. 

5. At the same time the Duke of Gloucester — " the 



1445' Th^ King's Marriage. 149 

good Duke Humphrey," who had always opposed any- 
thing Hke concessions to France — fell more than ever 
under the King's displeasure. Suffolk had secretly 
accused him to the King of treason, and it was deter- 
mined by Henry that he should be arrested. A Parlia- 
ment was summoned to meet at Bury St. 

A. D. 1447. 

Edmund's in the beginning of the year 1447. 
Some unusual measures were taken which seemed to be 
for the protection of the peace against an apprehended 
revolt. The Duke of Gloucester came from Devizes to 
take his place among the peers. He was attended by a 
retinue of eighty gentlemen on horseback ; but this 
does not appear to have been a greater company than 
his rank was supposed to warrant. On his . 

^ ^ Arrest and 

arrival he was placed under arrest by four death of the 
or five noblemen sent to him for the pur- Gloucester. 
pose by the king. A few days afterwards ^2" 

he died in his lodging. 

6. Suspicions at once began to be entertained that he 
had been privately murdered ; and the popular odium 
rested upon Suffolk as the author of the deed. The case 
is certainly not free from doubt, but it may very well be 
believed that the death»was really due to natural causes. 
The occurrence, however, added greatly to the deep 
feeling of dissatisfaction with which Suffolk's influence 
over the King was now generally regarded. A number 
of Gloucester's followers had been arrested at the same 
time as himself on the pretence that they had conspired 
to release Dame Eleanor Cobham and make the duke 
her husband king. Some of them were condemned to 
die as traitors, but at the intercession of a London clergy- 
man their lives were pardoned by Henry, and after 
being actually tied up and hanged on the gibbet they 
were cut down alive and set free. But the charge of 



150 Henry VL ch. vii» 

disloyalty against the Duke of Gloucester was very 
generally disbelieved, and attempts were made in suc- 
cessive parliaments to clear his memory of the stain. 
Owing, however, to the King's own strong belief, 
whether well or ill-founded, in his uncle's guilt, these at- 
tempts were for a long time unsuccessful. 

7. Within a very short time after the death of 
Gloucester his old rival. Cardinal Beaufort, also died. 
Death of The idea that Gloucester had been murdered, 

Beaufort, ^.nd the fact that Beaufort so soon fol- 

Aprii II. lowed him to the grave, made a deep im- 

pression on the popular imagination. In after times it 
was said that the Cardinal had died in agonies of re- 
morse ; and this view of the case is vividly represented 
by Shakespeare in the play. But there is very good 
warrant for believing it to be unfounded. A witness 
tells us that when he was on the point of death he sum- 
moned the clergy of his cathedral to his palace, caused 
requiems and other services to be chanted for his de- 
parting soul, ordered his will to be read aloud and some 
corrections to be made in it, and finally took a solemn 
farewell of all his friends. Apparently, on the rise of 
Suffolk his advice was no longer asked on state affairs, 
and he applied himself from that time undisturbed to 
the duties of his bishopric. 

V. Loss of Normandy — Fall of the Duke of Suffolk. 

I. The Marquis of Suffolk, as he was at this time 

called, though soon afterwards he was made duke, 

was now the only minister or statesman whose advice 

Suffolk was much regarded by the King. But 

unpopular. ^f^gj. ^^ ^jg^^j^ ^f Gloucester the complaints 

against his policy, especially in relation to the stipulated 
cession of Maire ard Anjou, became so general that he 



I450- Loss of Normandy, 151 

himself requested that his conduct in that transaction 
might be inquired into. It was accordingly j^ 
examined by the council, who pronounced 
him free from blame; and a proclamation was issued 
shortly afterwards forbidding any one to propagate scan- 
dalous rumors against him on pain of the King's dis- 
pleasure. As yet, however, Maine had not been actually 
delivered. As for Anjou, it had never been really in pos- 
session of the English, so that no delivery of it was 
necessarv. But the French king, weary of 

° . •' A. D. 1448. 

the long delay made by the English m fulfil- 
ling their engagements, sent an army to besiege Le Mans. 
The English authorities remonstrated, and an embassy 
was sent over in great haste to settle the matter without 
hostilities. Finally the garrison gave up 
possession, but protested that in yielding up 
the city they did not yield up the rights of Henry as 
sovereign. 

2. But in truth the loss of such a province as Maine 
weakened the hold of the English even in the neighbor- 
ing duchy of Normandy, which was now all that remained 
to them in the north of France except Calais. The 
government of Normandy was at this time in the hands 
of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, a nephew of 
Cardinal Beaufort, of whose immense wealth he inherited 
the principal portion. His influence with the King or 
with Suffolk had procured him this appointment, and the 
Duke of York had been recalled from France to make 
way for him. Unfortunately, he proved himself a sadly 
incompetent ruler, and the Duke of York, whom he had 
replaced, was led afterwards to criticise his conduct with 
extreme severity. It was a time when it was peculiarly 
important not to give needless provocation to the King 
of France. Yet with Somerset's full connivance the 



152 Henry VL CH. vii. 

forces that had been withdrawn from Maine 
March!^^^' took by assault and pillaged the rich manu- 
Capture of facturinff town of Fous^eres, on the borders 

rougeies. ° " ' 

of the duchy of Brittany. 

3. The act was a perfidious violation of the truce with 
France, in which Brittany had been expressly included. 
It was disavowed by Somerset, who pretended that it 
had been done without authority ; but it was impossible 
that Charles could be deceived by so impudent a false- 
hood, and he soon repaid the outrage by a similar 
manoeuvre. He made a secret treaty with the Duke of 
Brittany. A body of men, professedly in the service of 
the duke, took by surprise the town of Pont de I'Arche 
on the Seine — a most important position for the French 
in the recovery of Normandy, When complaints were 
made by the English, Charles offered to restore it if they 
would restore Fougeres. All attempts, however, to 
adjust the matter by conference proved ineffectual. The 
French followed up their advantage by taking one or 

two places more. At last open war was 

War renewed. _ , , . 

declared, and Somerset found when it was 
too late that he was utterly unprepared for the emergency. 

4. He wrote over to England in alarm about the 
strength of the enemy's musters and the weakness of the 
English garrisons ; but before any efficient succors could 
be sent a number of towns had already been recovered 
Rouen ^Y ^hc French. In October 1449 they laid 
besieged. siege to Rouen, drove the English out of the 
town into the castle, and there shut up Somerset himself, 
who, to procure his own liberty, had to surrender not only 
that city but several others, leaving the gallant Talbot 
Earl of Shrewsbury as a hostage till they were delivered 
up. At the same time the Duke of Brittany invaded 
Lower Normandy and recovered Fougeres. By the end 



i45o« Z<5'i"j" of Nor7nandy. 153 

of the year nearly the whole of Normandy was lost, 
except Cherbourg, Caen, Bayeux, and a few other towns 
on or near the coast. In a very few months Loss of Nor- 
more, even these were gone. Cherbourg, the mandy. 
last English stronghold, surrendered on August 12, 
1450. 

5. As the news of these successive reverses reached 
England, the general indignation against Suffolk's gov- 
ernment could no longer be restrained. Political ballads 
were circulated in which he was designated jackanapes 
— the first instance that has yet been found of the use 
of this expression. He was rhymed at as the ape with 
his clog who had tied Talbot our good dog. The people 
at large could hardly I z persuaded that selfishness and 
covetousness were not at the bottom of the mismanage- 
ment which had created such disasters, and a most dan- 
gerous spirit began to display itself in acts of popular 
violence. At the beginning of the year 

° ° ■' A. D. 1450. 

1450, Adam de Moleyns, Bishop of Chiches- 
ter, who was keeper of the Privy Seal and one of the 
most learned men in England, was sent to Portsmouth 
to pay the wages of some soldiers and sailors. He was 
a wealthy but a very avaricious man. The King's trea- 
sury was ill provided with money, and he endeavored to 
persuade the men to be content with less than their due. 
But they broke out into a mutiny, cried out Murder of 
that Normandy had been sold to the French, til^ Bishop 

■' . . of Chiches- 

and accused the bishop of being privy to ter, Jan. 9. 
the transaction ; on which they fell upon him and put 
him to death. 

6. Some words uttered by this murdered bishop just 
before his death were reported eagerly by Suffolk's ene- 
mies as containing serious reflections on his conduct ; 
and the circumstance probably contributed to his ruin. 



154 Henry VI. ch. vii. 

^ ^ „ . Within a month after he was impeached in 

Sufiolk im- . ^ 

peached in parhament. He was accused of having been 

parliament. r ^ r • j r t- 

for many years a secret iriend of France, 
influenced by corrupt motives to procure the hberation 
of the Duke of Orleans and the cession of Anjou and 
Maine. It was also alleged that he had betrayed the 
designs of England to her enemies, and that he had 
formed an ambitious project for the elevation of his son 
to the throne by proposing to marry him to Margaret 
Beaufort, daughter of the last Duke of Somerset, who 
stood next in succession to the crown. It was even in- 
sinuated that had the match taken effect he would have 
attempted to depose the King — a charge altogether pre- 
posterous and incredible. In another bill of indictment 
his whole policy was severely censured and attributed to 
corrupt and treasonable motives. 

7. The duke made answer to the first bill before the 
King and lords, entirely denying the truth of the accu- 
sations, and offering to prove them false in any manner 
the King chose to direct. As to the second he declined 
to ask a trial by his peers, but trusted he had sufficiently 
vindicated his loyalty, and expressed himself ready to 
submit to any judgment the King might think proper to 
pronounce. On this he was told by the lord chancellor 
in the King's name that on the more serious charges 
Henry would not pronounce him either guilty or inno- 
cent ; but, as he had himself agreed to submit to any- 
Suffolk is thing the King thought expedient, Henry, 
banished, \^ ^jjg excrcise of his own discretion, and 
not by way of sentence, bade him absent himself from 
England for five years from the first day of May following. 

8. This was imitating the weakness and the tyranny 
of Richard II.; and, as the issue proved, it protected 
neither Suffolk nor the King. The duke went down to 



I450- Jack Cade' s Rebellion. 155 

Ipswich and embarked for Flanders. A London mob 
endeavored to intercept him before leaving Westminster, 
but he took ship in safety. At sea, however, he was 
pursued by a ship called the "Nicholas of the Tower," 
the crew of which insisted on having him delivered up to 
them, and he was saluted by the master with the words 
"Welcome, traitor!" He was then told that he must 
die, and after being allowed a day to confess ^^^^ murdered 
himself, he was beheaded in a small boat. ^^ sea. 
The body was then brought to land and thrown vpon 
the sands at Dover. 

VI. Jack Cade' s Rebellion — Loss of Guienne and Gascony , 

I. Within a month after the murder of the Duke of 
Suffolk a great rebellion took place in Kent and Sussex. 
The people complained of extortions prac- ^ ^ j^^^ 
tised by the King's officers in the collection ^g^glijon^'^ 
of the revenue, and also that their griev- May. 
ances could not be heard because the knights of the 
shire were not freely elected. As their leader they se- 
lected a man of some ability, who called himself by the 
name of John Mortimer, and professed to be a cousin of 
the Duke of York ; but it was afterwards discovered that 
he was an Irishman, whose real name was Jack Cade. 
He was, however, a very good disciplinarian and kept 
his forces together in excellent order. On June i they 
encamped upon Blackheath. The King was at that 
time holding a Parliament at Leicester ; but he imme- 
diately dissolved the legislature and came up to London. 
With an army of 20,000 men he marched against the 
rebels, who withdrew before him, so that the King occu- 
pied their position on Blackheath. A detachment under 
Sir Humphrey Stafford and his cousin William Stafford 



156 Henry VL CH. vti. 

went forward to pursue the insurgents, but was defeated 
at Sevenoaks and both the Staffords slain. The nobles 
who were with the King now declared that they could 
not keep their men together unless the King would con- 
sent to dismiss and punish some of his principal advisers. 
To satisfy them, Lord Say was arrested and sent to the 
Tower. But the concession was of little service. The 
royal forces disbanded, and though the city of London 
offered the King their services, he thought it best to with- 
draw, and retired to Kenilworth. 

2. The result of this was that the citizens consented 
to admit the rebels. Cade passed over London Bridge 
with his followers. He struck his sword against London 
Stone and said, "Now is Mortimer lord of this city." 
He caused Lord Say to be fetched from the Tower and 
arraigned before a court at the Guildhall. The unfortu- 
nate nobleman claimed to be tried by his peers; but he 
was hurried off and beheaded in Cheapside. One Crow- 
mer, sheriff of Kent, who was Lord Say's son-in-law, 
was beheaded at the same time in Cade's presence ; and 
the two heads were barbarously carried through the 
streets on poles and made to kiss each other. Cade now 
began to relax disciphne. He entered the houses of 
unpopular citizens and pillaged them, so that men 
who had anything to lose became alarmed for their pro- 
perty. For three days he held possession of the city, 
retiring every evening into Southwark for the night ; but 
the mayor and aldermen applied to Lord Scales, who 
had the keeping of the Tower, for a force to drive him 
out; and a hard-fought battle took place on London 
Bridge during the night between the 5th and 6th of July. 
In the morning the result was still uncertain, when a 
truce was agreed to for a few hours, and such of the 
King's councillors as remained in London offered a 



1 45°* Jack Cade's Rebellion. 157 

general pardon to the insurgents on condition of their 
laying down their arms. The offer was very generally 
accepted, and most of the men returned homewards. 
Cade was pardoned under the name of Mortimer, his 
real name being still unknown. But doubtful, perhaps, 
lest he might still be made responsible, he broke open 
the King's Bench and Marshalsea prisons and formed a 
new company out of the criminals detained there. With 
this force he retired to Rochester and tried to raise new 
disturbances, but these were soon quelled, and Cade was 
pursued out of Kent into Sussex, where he was captured 
by Alexander Iden, a gentleman who was about this 
time appointed sheriff of the former county in place of 
the murdered Crowmer. On being taken, however, he 
received a mortal wound and he died before he could be 
conveyed to London. His head was fixed upon London 
Bridge with the face looking towards Kent. 

3. It was now evident that the King required the aid 
of some strong hand to administer the government. 
Even before the fall of Suffolk there had been much 
complaint that he did not employ the Duke of York to 
redress the wrongs of the people. But the Duke of York 
had in fact been sent to Ireland as the King's lieutenant 
some time before, mainly through the influence of Som- 
erset, and in order that he might be out of the way. The 
crisis, however, was now so urgent that he „, _ , 

^ . The Duke 

appears to have thought himself justified in of York 
coming over without leave. He crossed the fr^^^^^*^ 
Channel to Beaumaris in Anglesea, where l^^^^"'^- 
attempts were made to stop his landing, then collecting 
a body of his followers in Wales, marched on to Lon- 
don and presented himself before the King. Efforts 
were made in several places to arrest his progress or 
prevent his friends from joining him upon the way; but 



158 Henry VI. ch. vii. 

they were ineffectual as regards himself. When he 
reached the King's presence, the first thing that he did 
was to demand and obtain a repudiation by Henry him- 
self of certain imputations of disloyalty that had been 
made against him, and which had been the pretext of 
many attempts against his person. He then presented 
a petition for better administration of justice, complain- 
ing that persons indicted of treason or accused of it by 
public rumor were not brought to trial or even put un- 
der arrest ; and he so far prevailed that the King pro- 
mised to establish a new council, of which York himself 
should be a member, to inquire into all abuses. 

4. The Duke of Somerset, who had come over from 
Normandy just before York himself came over from 
Ireland, now found himself in a painful situation. Fa- 
vored though he was by the court, he was one of the 
most unpopular men in England. He was generally 
considered responsible for the surrender of Caen and the 
total loss of Normandy ; and when Parliament met 
towards the close of the year to consider the state of 
matters in France, he failed to satisfy the peers of the 
integrity of his conduct. He was accord- 
frr'^sTedV^ ingly placed under arrest. But owing to 

leased and main in custody. The King, in defiance of 
in avor. popular Opinion, not only released him from 

confinement, but made him captain of Calais and gave 
him the control of the royal household. For a whole year 
afterwards his ascendancy was undisputed, and the Duke 
of York found it advisable to withdraw from 
Lo?sof^^'' court to his own castle of Ludlow. But 
Sd^""^ meanwhile a series of reverses overtook the 

Gascony. English arms in France, and the loss of 

Normandy was followed by the no less complete loss of 



1 451* Loss of Guienne and Gas cony. .159 

Guienne and Gascony, First Bordeaux capitulated, then 
Bayonne ; the whole south of France surrendered, and 
Calais was now all that was left of English possessions 
upon the Continent. Nor was even this last stronghold 
safe ; for not only at this time, but during the whole re- 
mainder of Henry's reign, there were continual alarms 
lest the French should recover Calais also. 

5. It was impossible that the Duke of York could view 
this state of matters with indifference, — especially when 
his rival Somerset had the ear of the King and was in- 
stilling continually into Henry's mind distrust and sus- 
picion against himself. He accordingly mus- York 
tered a number of his followers and marched Londorf. ^^ 
up to London. The King and Somerset had ^- ^- ^^'^'^• 
full warning, as York had made no secret of his inten- 
tions, and having collected another army on their side, 
set out to meet him. York, however, avoided an engage- 
ment and pressed on to London, which he hoped 
would have opened its gates to him ; but being denied 
entrance there, he crossed the Thames at Kingston 
Bridge and marched into Kent, taking up his position at 
Dartford. The King's army followed and encamped a 
few miles from him upon Blackheath. A battle ,, , 

^ March i. 

might now easily have taken place, but some 
of the lords on the King's side made proposals for a 
compromise, and Bishop Waynflete of Winchester, with 
the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick and some other 
noblemen, were sent to the Duke of York in embassy 
to ask the reason why he appeared in arms. The duke 
replied that he intended no ill to the King or his council, 
but only desired the removal of the Duke of Somerset 
and other persons by whom the people had been mis- 
governed. Several of the lords on the King's side were 
so far favorable to this object, that they induced the 



i6o Henry VI. ch. vii. 

King to return an answer that Somerset should be placed 
in custody until he had acquitted himself of such charges 
He is per- ^^ York would bring against him. With this 

suaded to promise the Duke of York was so entirely 

dismiss his '■ ^ 

forces ; but satisfied that he at once broke up his camp, 

faith is not t • j i • j • j i 

kept with dismissed his army, and repaired alone to 

^^^- the King's tent to declare his loyalty. But 

here he found himself deceived. Somerset had not 
been placed in confinement according to promise, but 
was attending on the King just as before; and the Duke 
of York had in fact placed himself in the power of his 
rival. 

6. Somerset, however, did not dare to make an ex- 
treme use of this advantage. The duke had still on the 
Welsh borders about 10,000 men, who, it was said, were 
actually on the march to London, led by his son Edward 
Earl of March, a boy of ten years of age. It was resolved, 
therefore, merely to demand from him an oath of alle- 
giance as a guarantee for his future loyalty. This oath he 
A. D. 1452. took at St. Paul's on March 10, 1452, and 
March lo. -^g^g allowcd to go at large. 

7. After this the King issued a general amnesty on 
Good Friday, April 7, and civil dissensions were for a 
Attem tto while allayed. Towards the close of the 
recover same year an attempt was made to recover 
and Guienne and Gascony from the French. The 
Gascony. inhabitants of those provinces found them- 
selves more severely taxed by their new masters than 
they had been when under Enghsh rule, and they 
offered their allegiance again to the King of England. 
A force was despatched under Talbot Earl of Shrews- 
bury, which at once took possession of Bordeaux 
and in a wonderfully short space of time succeeded 
in recovering for a while nearly all the lost provinces. 



1453- Loss of Guienne and Gas cony. i6i 

But in the beginning of the following June, 
the French king, having carefully matured June, 
his plans, retook, one by one, the fortresses north of the 
Gironde, and laid siege to Castillon on the Dordogne. 
The place was important as giving its possessors free 
navigation into the Gironde ; and the Earl of Shrews- 
bury, hearing that it was in danger, suddenly left Bor- 
deaux with a rather inadequate force to compel the 
enemy if possible to raise the siege. Urged on by a 
false report that the French were in retreat, he pursued 
in the direction of their supposed flight, and found a 
well-ordered army with artillery drawn up in battle 
array. With heedless impetuosity he rushed upon the 
enemy, his followers uttering their usual war-cry, "A 
Talbot! St. George !" His gallant army was rp ,, , 
mowed down by the fire of the French guns feated and 
or cut to pieces in hand-to-hand encounter, 
and he himself fell in the midst of the fight. His body 
was found covered with wounds on the limbs and on the 
face. 

8. With the death of Talbot all hope of the English 
retaining their hold on Gascony was practically at an 
end. Castillon at once surrendered ; then a number of 
other places ; and finally Bordeaux, after 
every other stronghold had been evacuated, october^iV. 
was obliged to submit to Charles. Thus 
was Gascony finally lost, after having been in English 
possession, with little interruption, for the 

Gascony is 

space of three centuries. finally lost. 

Vn. The King's Illness — Civil War. 

I. About this time King Henry fell seriously ill, and 
lost entirely, for the time, the use of his mental faculties. 

M 



i62 Henry VI. ch. vtt. 

In October he became a father, the Queen, 
his^f^uhies. after eight years of married life, giving 
birth to a son who was baptized by the 
name of Edward ; but the news could not be communi- 
cated to the King so as to reach his understanding. In 
this crisis the government naturally came to a standstill, 
and the councillors about the King, however unwillingly, 
could no longer avoid seeking the advice of all the peers 
of the realm, including the Duke of York. The result 
was that before the end of the year Somerset was 
accused of treason by the Duke of Norfolk, and com- 
mitted to the Tower. Norfolk demanded that the cir- 
cumstances of the loss of Normandy and of Guienne 
should be made the subject of a criminal inquiry accord- 
ing to the laws of France ; and that other matters relating 
to Somerset's administration should be investigated ac- 
cording to the law of England. Somerset, however, re- 
mained in prison a whole year and upwards of two 
months, without being brought to trial. 

2. Meanwhile the King's infirmity made it necessary 
that some one should be appointed to act in his name. 
Parliament had been summoned to meet at 
Y&h'.lt^^' Reading on February 11,1454. It was im- 
mediately adjourned to Westminster and a 
commission was given to the Duke of York to act as the 
King's lieutenant on its reassembling. Soon after it met 
again Cardinal Kemp, Archbishop of Canterbury, died. 
He was an accomplished statesman, and held at the 
time the office of lord chancellor. It was important that 
both the primacy and the lord chancellorship should be 
filled up without delay ; and a deputation was sent by 
the lords in Parliament to Windsor to ascertain whether 
the King then possessed such a degree of consciousness 
as to comprehend the situation. But^ the deputation 



1455- '^^^ Kin^ s Illness. 163 

were obliged to report that their efforts were an utter 
failure. They waited on the King and expressed in the 
first place their anxiety to hear of his recovery ; but the 
King gave no answer. Not a word did he utter ; not a 
nod or faintest gesture implied that he understood a sin- 
gle thing that was said to him. To provide, therefore, 
for the necessary government of the king- 
dom, the lords in Parhament appointed the Protector.^ 
Duke of York Protector of England. 

3. For the first time Margaret of Anjou now found 
herself entirely without influence in the affairs of the 
kingdom, which she had, in fact, ruled for years in her 
husband's name. York exercised his new power with 
vigor, and put down with remarkable facility some fac- 
tious disturbances in the North. But his authority was 
short-lived ; for at Christmas the King re- The King 
gained possession of his faculties, and as a recovers, 
necessary consequence the power of the Protector term*i- 
nated. The Duke of Somerset was still in 

A. D. 1455. 

prison, but was presently released on bail ; 
after which, at a meeting of the council held before the 
King, his sureties were discharged and he was declared 
free from any suspicion of disloyalty. It was now clear 
that the King would be again guided entirely by the 
advice of Somerset. York was deprived even of the 
government of Calais. The Earl of Salisbury, who had 
been appointed chancellor about the time that York was 
made Protector, was removed from his post, and Bour- 
chier, Archbishop of Canterbury, was appointed in his 
room. York and his friends knew well that they were 
out of favor and held in great distrust. 

4. A council being summoned to meet at Leicester for 
the surety of the King's person, the Duke of York, with 
the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, who had withdrawn 



164 Henry VI. CH. vii. 

into the North, determined to e^o up to the 
A. D. 1455. ° ^ 

King with an armed force. They feared 
that if they attended the council they would be en- 
trapped : but if the King were in any real danger they 
professed themselves ready to offer him their services. 
They wrote to Archbishop Bourchier to explain to Henry 
their motives for taking up arms, and they marched on 
till they came to St. Alban's. Here they were met by 
the King and Somerset ; and a sharp battle took place, 
in which Somerset and a number of other lords were 
slain, and the King was wounded in the neck with an 

arrow. The Duke of York was master of 

May 22. 

First battle of the field ; but he and the Earls of Salisbury 
and Warwick came after the engagement 
and knelt before the King, beseeching his forgiveness 
and disowning all intention to do him injury. Henry 
forgave them willingly and went on with them to Lon- 
don, where they were received in triumph the following 
day. 

5. A Parliament was immediatel)^ afterwards sum- 
moned in which the acts of the Duke of York and his 
friends were declared to have been those of good and 
loyal subjects. It was prorogued till November. In the 
interval the King fell ill again, and when it reassembled 
York again York was again nominated as Protector. 
Protector, The Parliament also determined that the 
Protectorship this time should 'not cease by the mere 
fact of the King being once more able to exercise his 
functions, but that whenever the King was so far re- 
covered York should be discharged of his functions in 
full parliament. 

6. In February following he was so discharged. The 
King had regained his health, and was once more able 
to perform the duties of royalty. Apparently York still 



1459- Civil War. 165 

retained some influence in the conduct of ^^^ j^ 
affairs, but the Kin? now e^overned in discharged 

' & fe of the office. 

his own name. Things generally were in a. d. 1456. 

r 1 »-r->i Feb. 25. 

an uncertam state for about two years. The 
court seems to have moved about a good deal at a dis- 
tance from London. The Queen kept at a distance 
from the King. The Scots attacked the borders and 
the French insulted the coast with impunity. At length 
it was felt desirable that there should be a reconcilia- 
tion between York and his friends on the one side, and 
the Queen and her friends on the other. A great coun- 
cil was held in London in February 1458. a. d. 145S. 
York, Sahsbury, and Warwick took up their February. 
quarters in the city ; but the Duke of Somerset and 
other lords of the Queen's party were not admitted within 
it lest they should take occasion to revenge the death of 
their fathers and other relatives at St. Alban's. Confer- 
ences took place daily between the two parties in the 
suburbs, in the morning at the Blackfriars and in the 
afternoon at the Whitefriars in Fleet Street. In the end 
terms of agreement were come to by which t, ... . 

/=> -' Keconciliation 

the Yorkists undertook to bestow a certain of the opposite 
sum in masses for the souls of the lords 
slain at St. Alban's, and the other party to forego all 
claims and actions against their opponents arising out 
of that battle. 

7. A great procession was held in honor of the recon- 
ciliation. The rival lords marched together to St. Paul's. 
The young Duke of Somerset went hand in hand with 
Salisbury ; the Duke of Exeter with the Earl of Warwick. 
The King then followed, wearing his crown upon his 
head. The Duke of York and the Queen walked after 
him, arm in arm. This good-will and amity, however, 
scarcely lasted a whole year. A quarrel between the 



1 66 Henry VI. ch. vii. 

servants of the King and the Earl of Warwick led to 

imputations against the earl's loyalty, and he retired to 

Calais, of which place he had been made lord deputy. 

The Queen then endeavored to arrest his 

A. D. 1459. 

father the Earl of Salisbury, whom she com- 
missioned Lord Audley to intercept on a journey. But 
„ , ^ the earl, being forewarned, had collected a 

Battle of . . 

Bioreheath. considerable force, and completely over- 
^^ ■ ^^' threw Lord Audley at Bioreheath in Staf- 

fordshire on Sunday, September 23, 1459. 

8. It was now evident that the question must be fought 
out between the party of the Queen and that of the Duke 
of York. The duke mustered his forces in the marches 
of Wales, and was joined at Ludlow by the Earls of 
Salisbury and Warwick, the latter having come over 
from Calais to give him aid. An army commanded by 
the King himself approached Ludlow. The confederate 
lords endeavored to avoid a conflict by strong protesta- 
tions of loyalty, declaring that they only remained 
under arms in self-defence. But the King issued procla- 
mations of pardon to all who would desert their standard, 
and when the two armies lay opposite each other, one 
Andrew Trollope, who had come over from Calais with 
the Earl of Warwick, withdrew by night with a con- 
siderable body of men and went over to the King. His 
defection made the Yorkists despair of further resistance. 
^ They fled and left their banners on the 

Dispersion i i . 

of the field. The duke and his second son, Ed- 

mund Earl of Rutland, escaped by Wales 
into Ireland. His eldest, Edward Earl of March, along 
with the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury, passed into 
Devonshire, where they took ship and sailed, first to 
Guernsey and afterwards to Calais. 

9. In November a Parliament met at Coventry in 



1460. Civil War. 167 

which the Duke of York and all his party were attainted. 
But the duke was safe in Ireland, and War- They are 
wick could not be dispossessed of Calais, ^"^'"'^^'^• 
where the soldiers were devoted to him. The latter had 
also the command of the King's fleet, having been in 
the preceding year entrusted with the keeping of the sea, 
in which he had distinguished himself by a splendid 
victory over a Spanish fleet. It was in vain that other 
persons were appointed to replace him in either of his 
two commands. The young Duke of Somerset, who 
was sent over as Captain of Calais, was unable to take 
possession of his post. He was obliged to land at some 
little distance from Calais, and the very sailors who had 
brought him over conveyed their ships afterwards into 
Calais haven and offered their services to the Earl of 
Warwick, Many friends at the same time came flocking 
over from England to join the Earls of March, Salis- 
bury, and Warwick. Measures were concerted by these 
lords for the invasion of England, and the Earl of War- 
wick sailed to Ireland, where he arranged a plan of 
action in concert with the Duke of York, and returned 
to Calais. 

VIII. The Duke of Yor-k's Claim — His Death — Henry 

Deposed. 

I. At length, in June 1460, the three earls crossed the 
Channel, There went over with them a papal legate 
named Coppini who had been sent to Eng- ^ ^ ^^g^ 
land in the preceding year and was return- ^^^\ 
ing from a fruitless mission, when those Salisbury 
lords persuaded him to stay a while at return to 
Calais and use his influence to promote "g^^^d. 
peace between them and the King. They landed at 



1 68 Henry VI. ch. vii. 

Sandwich, and were received with joy by a great multi- 
tude of people. Archbishop Bourchier met them and 
conducted them to London. The legate in their com- 
pany displayed the standard of the Church. Their fol- 
lowers increased in numbers as they went along, and 
the city of London ofiened its gates to them. They 
published manifestoes declaring how they had been 
debarred from setting before the King himself matters 
of great importance to the kingdom, how the laws were 
ill administered and justice was perverted ; how the 
people were grievously taxed and the patrimony of the 
Crown was wasted by men who had too much influence 
over the King ; how the King's purveyors were driven 
to great extortion to supply the wants of the household ; 
and how the King was forcing every township to raise 
men for him at its own cost. Moreover letters had been 
written by authority encouraging the French to attempt 
the siege of Calais, and the Irish chieftains to rise 
against the English. 

2. The King collected his forces at Coventry and 
went on to Northampton, where he was met by the 
„ , ^ army of the confederate lords. In a brief 

Battle of -^ 

Northampton, but sharp engagement the royal forces were 
^ ^°' defeated and the 'King himself taken pri- 

soner. He was conducted to London, and of course the 
government fell into the hands of the victors. New 
officers of state were appointed and a Parliament was 
summoned which met at Westminster in October. Here 
the attainders of the Duke of York and his party were 
reversed. But before it had sat many days the Duke of 
Vork himself came over from Ireland, and his appear- 
ance gave rise to proceedings of a kind altogether un- 
usual. 

3. He arrived in London with a retinue of 500 men, 



1460. The Duke of York! s Claim. 169 

proceeded to Westminster, and took up quarters in the 
royal palace. On October 16 he entered the House of 
Lords, took his seat on the King's throne, and delivered 
to the chancellor a writing in which he 
claimed the crown for himself by lineal claims the 
descent from Edward III., and maintained 
that Henry was not rightful king. He was, in fact, de- 
scended from Lionel Duke of Clarence, the elder brother 
of John of Gaunt, from whom Henry and the last two 
kings had derived their title. Many historians have 
been of opinion that he had been ambitious to vindicate 
this claim all along ; but it must be confessed that be- 
fore this time he had always conducted himself with re- 
markable moderation, and when we consider the bad 
faith he had repeatedly experienced from the opposite 
party, owing to the weakness of the King and the over- 
bearing character of his consort, we can quite well un- 
derstand that he may have been led to advance his pre- 
tensions from other motives than mere ambition. At 
the same time, it naturally seemed to the peers an un- 
precedented thing to deprive a king like Henry of his 
crown after he and his family had worn it for three gene- 
rations. The greater number of the lords stayed away 
from the House ; but the duke insisting on an answer, 
those present referred the matter to the King himself, 
desiring to know what he could allege in opposition to 
the duke's claim. The King consulted his judges and 
lawyers, but they declined to advise him in a matter of 
such grave responsibility ^ so that finally it was referred 
again to the lords, who gave it as their opinion that the 
duke's title could not be defeated. But as Henry VL 
had been actually crowned as king and they had all 
sworn fealty to him, it was suggested as a compromise 
and agreed to by both parties, that he should be al- 



lyo Henry VI. ch. vii, 

lowed to retain his crown for life, but that the duke and 
his heirs should succeed after Henry's death. This ar- 
rangement was embodied in an act of parliament which 
received the royal assent ; and Henry, wearing his crown 
upon his head, made a public procession to St. Paul's, 
accompanied by the duke as heir-apparent, to give it 
greater solemnity. 

4. Queen Margaret, however, was not so easily satis- 
fied with this tame surrender of the rights of her son. 
Since the battle of Northampton she had retired into 
Wales, and afterwards into Scotland ; but a strong party 
in the north of England maintained her cause. The 
Duke of York proceeded northwards, and towards the 
end of the year took up his quarters at Sandal Castle. 
From this position he allowed himself to be lured to 
attack the Queen's adherents at Wakefield, 
Battle of Wake- ^herc his army suffered a total defeat and 

field, Dec. 30. •' 

he himself was slain in the field. The 
victors were most merciless and insolent. It is true 
there is some uncertainty about the stories which were 
reported by writers of somewhat later date. Queen 
Margaret herself is said to have been present at the 
battle ; and Lord Clifford, who, having lost his father at 
the battle of St. Alban's, nourished a deadly feeling of 
hatred and revenge against the Duke of York, presented 
his slain enemy's head to Margaret with the words, 
" Madam, your war is done. Here is your king's ran- 
som." The same Chfford, after the battle, also put to 
death most cruelly the duke's second son, Edmund Earl 
of Rutland, a young man not quite eighteen years of age, 
whose fate excited great compassion, and whom later 
writers represented to have been a mere boy. But from 
what the few really contemporary writers say in refer- 
ence to this battle it may be doubted whether Margaret 



1 46 1. The Duke of York's Claim. 171 

arrived upon the scene till after it was fought. There 
seems no question, however, that in this particular en- 
gagement there was manifested a spirit of ferocity and 
vindictiveness which had not been seen before, and 
which afterwards caused these wars to be looked back 
upon with feelings of peculiar pain and horror. The 
Duke of York's head, which Margaret caused to be 
crowned with a paper crown, was stuck upon the walls 
of York city. And the Earl of Salisbury, having been 
taken prisoner in the fight, was beheaded, and his head 
was placed there too. 

5. Edward Earl of March, the Duke of York's eldest 
son, had left London shortly before his father and gone 
into the borders of Wales. He was at 
Gloucester when he received the news of 
his father's death. He immediately moved on to 
Shrewsbury. The men of the country flocked to him in 
numbers, eager to offer their services against Queen 
Margaret. But hearing that Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pem- 
broke, the half brother of King Henry, was raising 
forces in Wales along with Tames Butler, _ 

^ •' ' Battle of 

Earl of Ormond, who brought some bands Mortimer's 
of Irishmen into the field, he turned back ' 

and met them at Mortimer's Cross to the south of Wig- 
more, in Herefordshire, where he thoroughly defeated 
them on Candlemas Day, 1461. It is said that on the 
morning of that day, just before the battle, he was 
struck by the appearance of the sun ; for it seemed as 
if three suns were seen together in the sky, and that 
they all at once merged into one, — an omen of ap- 
proaching success by which he was greatly encouraged. 
The Earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire fled from the field ; 
but Sir Owen Tudor, Pembroke's father, was taken prison- 
er, and was beheaded at Hereford along with some others. 



172 Henry VI. ch. vii. 

6. This Sir Owen Tudor deserves notice here as 
being the ancestor of a hne of kings and queens who 

Sir Owen afterwards sat upon the English throne. He 
Tudor. ■y^a.s a Welsh chieftain of handsome person 

and great accomplishments, who boasted a pedigree from 
the ancient line of Cadwallader, the last king of the 
Britons. Perhaps the possession of such a lineage 
placed him, in his own eyes, on a level with kings and 
princes ; but whether it was due to this, or to his own 
personal merits, he succeeded in producing such an im- 
pression on the French princess, Catherine, widow of 
Henry V., that she became his wife. By her he had, 
besides some other children, two sons, who being the 
half-brothers of Henry VI., were afterwards raised to the 
peerage. Edmund, the eldest, was created Earl of Rich- 
mond, and became the father of King Henry VII. Jasper, 
the second, was made Earl of Pembroke ; and it is he 
who was, as we have seen, defeated by young Edward 
Earl of March at Mortimer's Cross. 

7. But although Edward had gained a signal victory, 
Queen Margaret had profited by the resistance offered to 
him in Wales, and drew towards London with a host of 
northern men who devastated the country as they went 
along. The Earl of Warwick brought the King out of 
London and met her at St. Alban's, where, for a second 
time, a battle was fought in this civil war. On this occa- 

, , , sion the Queen's party were victorious and 

Second battle ^ . 

of St. Alban's. the Yorkists were put to flight. The King, 
■ ^^' who had been left behind, was again at 

liberty and was rejoined by his wife and son. He issued 
a proclamation against the Earl of March, who was now 
on his way towards London; but Edward, joining his 
forces with the remainder of Warwick's army, marched 
on unopposed and was received with acclamations as he 




E X pL a II a ti on . 
X Indicates a Battle Field. 

* Attached to a date indicates that the place was taken, sacked or ravaged at that date. 
A Indicates an Encampment. 

A mere date following the name oy a place indicates a treaty or some other point of interest eonneeted 
with the place, which will he found recorded in the history. 



1 46 1. Triumph of the House of York. 173 

entered the city. For the citizens, who had always 
favored his father, were now driven to take part with 
him all the more in consequence of what they heard of 
the depredations committed by Margaret's northern 
troops. 

8. Being therefore now lodged in the capital and 
assured of the friendship of the people, Edward sum- 
moned a council of lords, before whom he declared his 
right to the crown of England ; and it was determined 
to depose King Henry on the ground that he had broken 
the agreement made with the Duke of York in the last 
Parliament, and shown himself besides incompetent to 
rule. The lords accordingly named Edward king. 
That day, at a great meeting in St. John's Field, the 
people were asked if they would accept the ^, ^ , , 

■^ ^ . "^ . \ The Earl of 

Earl of March as their sovereign. Cries of March de- 
*' Yea, yea. King Edward!" filled the air, ^^^^ ^^' 
with great shouts and clapping of hands. A deputation 
of lords and commons then waited upon him at Baynard's 
Castle, the mansion of his father in Thames Street, to 
notify to him his election as king. He accepted the 
dignity, proceeded in state to St. Paul's and afterwards 
to Westminster, and from that day began to rule. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EDWARD IV. 

I. Triumph of the House of York. 

I. Edward was king; but Henry and Margaret had 
withdrawn into the North, and an army of 60,000 men 
under Somerset lay near York. Both Ed- 

. A. D. 14OI. 

ward and his supporters prepared for a deci- 



174 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

sive struggle. The Duke of Norfolk went down into his 
own country to summon his retainers, the Earl of War- 
wick* left London with a great body of men, and Edward 
himself followed northwards a few days later. The more 
advanced divisions of their forces had reached Pomfret 
and had secured the passage of the river Aire at Ferry- 
bridge, when Lord Fitzwalter, who kept the bridge, was 
Battle of surprised and slain by Lord Clifford in the 

\^y^' early morning. Lord Falconbridge, how- 

March 27, ever, came up immediately afterwards and 

defeated Clifford, who was also slain in the encounter. 
The united forces of Warwick and of Edward then 
pushed on in the direction of York, and between the 
villages of Towton and Saxton, about eight miles from 
the city, found the whole army of the enemy drawn up 
to give them battle. The conflict began about four 
o'clock in the afternoon, the day after the battle of 
Ferrybridge. The fighting was continued through the 
night, and renewed with vigor next morning about nine 
-nd Towton o'clock, notwithstanding a heavy snow 
March 29. shower which blew in the faces of the Lan- 

castrians. That day was Palm Sunday. The forces 
engaged on either side were enormous, and never was 
battle fought so obstinately. About mid-day the Duke 
of Norfolk came up to the assistance of the Yorkists, 
with fresh forces that he had levied in Norfolk. Still 
the Lancastrians kept the field, fighting most obstinately 
till about three in the afternoon. But their ranks being 
broken they were at last compelled to give way, and 
were pursued in various directions, no quarter being 
granted by the conquerors. Some were drowned in at- 
tempting to cross rivers ; numbers were cut down in the 
pursuit, and the way was strewn with corpses for ten 
miles, up to the very gates of York. On the field itself, 



1463. Triumph of the House of York. 175 

after the battle, the spectacle was most ghastly. The 
snow was crimsoned with the blood of the slain, and as 
it melted a crimson stream poured down every furrow. 
The dead were heaped up in trenches, and their numbers, 
counted by the heralds, were declared to amount to no 
less than eight-and-twenty thousand. 

2. King Henry and Margaret fled towards Scotland, 
while Edward entered York in triumph. The power of 
Henry was completely crushed, and the first step he took 
to recover it was not much calculated to advance his 
object. Driven to seek refuge in Scotland he delivered 
up Berwick to the Scots and encouraged them to under- 
take the siege of Carlisle. But the latter place was 
relieved by Lord Montague, and Edward Coronation 
having returned to London was crowned on of Edward. 
Sunday, June 28. His two brothers, George and Rich- 
ard, who had been sent abroad for security, returned 
and were created dukes, with the titles of Clarence and 
Gloucester. Parliament was then summoned to meet at 
Westminster in November, and an act was passed con- 
firming Edward's claim to the crown by hereditary right, 
and declaring the three preceding kings to have been 
usurpers. All who had been active in the cause of the 
House of Lancaster were attainted and their possessions 
forfeited. Henry himself and Queen Margaret were 
declared traitors. 

3. Still, the whole kingdom was not for some time 
absolutely in Edward's power. There were castles in 
Wales which held out for Henry, and Margaret hoped, 
with the aid of the French and Scots, to make a success- 
ful invasion. She sailed from Kirkcudbright ^ ^ ^^g^. 
through the Irish Channel into Brittany, -^P"^ 3- 
and, repairing to the French Court, made a treaty with 
the new King of France, Louis XL, by which she en- 



176 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

gaged to surrender Calais as the price of his assistance. 
Louis lent her some money and a small force, with which 
she returned to Scotland, and made an attempt to invade 
England by sea. But a violent storm arose, some of the 
vessels were sunk and others driven to land on Holy 
Island off Northumberland, and Margaret herself only 
escaped in a small fishing-smack to Berwick. Shortly 
afterwards, however, she made another attempt by land, 
and, with the aid of the Borderers, entered Northumber- 
land. Her efforts were at first crowned with success. 
Three strong castles, Bamborough, Dunstanborough, and 
Alnwick fell into her hands. But before the end of the 
year two of them were recovered by the Earl of War- 
wick, while Edward himself was advancing northwards 
A. D. 1463. t*^ drive out the invaders ; and on Twelfth 
January 6. Day, Alnwick, the sole remaining fortress, 
capitulated to Lord Hastings. 

4. The cause of Lancaster was now desperate. The 
castle of Harlech in Wales alone held out for Henry, 
who appears at this time to have gone thither from 
Scotland. The Duke of Somerset made his peace with 
Edward, and was received into favor. Sir Ralph Percy 
too, on the surrender of Bamborough and Dunstanbo- 
rough, had agreed to swear allegiance to Edward on 
condition that those castles should again be committed 
to his custody. As for Margaret, she appears to have 
met with many adventures, and to have narrowly es- 
caped falling into the hands of the English. At least 
there is an anecdote related of her by an old French 
chronicler referring to this period, which we will here 
translate from the original. 

5. "The Queen of England having lost herself one 
day in a forest in England, and her son along with 
her, they were taken by thieves, who robbed them and 



1463. Triumph of the House of York. 177 

stripped them of their valuables, and it must ^ , 

^ ^ Adventure 

be supposed would have murdered them, of Queen 
but that they squabbled among themselves 
about the division of the jewels, till they came to blows. 
Then the Queen, seeing them fight, took up her son in 
her arms, and fled into the depth of the forest, where she 
was so overcome with fatigue that she could go no fur- 
ther. Here she found a brigand to whom she gave her 
son to carry, saying to him, ' Here, my friend, save the 
son of your king ! ' The brigand took him with very 
good will, and they departed, so that shortly after they 
came by sea to Sluys. And from Sluys she went to 
Bruges, her son still with her ; where she was received 
very honorably, while her husband. King Henry, was 
in Wales, in one of the strongest places in England." 

6. In Flanders Margaret sought the aid of Philip Duke 
of Burgundy, but he refused to take her part against Ed- 
ward. He, however, relieved her necessities, and she 
retired to the duchy of Bar in Lorraine which ghe retires 
belonged to her father, where she remained *° Lorrame. 
for some time, watching the course of events. 

7. The triumph of Edward, meanwhile, was not un- 
disturbed. The Scots invaded England again, and re- 
took the castle of Bamborough. Men to whom much 
had been intrusted proved unworthy of the confidence 
reposed in them. Sir Ralph Percy, notwithstanding his 
late oath of fealty to King Edward, turned traitor once 
more, and in concert with a certain Sir Ralph Gray, who 
was disappointed of being made governor of Alnwick 
Castle, surprised that fortress and delivered the govern- 
or, Sir John Astley, into the hands of the French. A 
little later the Duke of Somerset also declared again for 
Henry, and passed from Wales into Northumberland to 
join with Percy ; while King Henry once more re-ap- 

N 



178 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

peared upon the E orders with a body ot 

A. D. 1464. 

Scots and refugees. But the Earl of War- 
wick's brother, John Nevill, Lord Montague, whom Ed- 
Battles of ward had appointed heutenant of the North, 
Hedgeiey f^j-gt defeated and killed Percy in battle at 

Moor, . ■' 

April 25, Hedgeiey Moor some miles south of Wooler, 

ham, " and next overthrew the forces of Henry and 

May 8. ^^ Duke of Somerset at Hexham. King 

Henry himself fled away and lived in concealment for 
more than a year afterwards. But Somerset was taken, 
and in consideration of his treason was beheaded after 
the battle ; and several others of the leaders of this 
movement were executed in the same manner, shortly 
afterwards at Newcastle and at York. 

n. Edward's Marriage — Louis XI. 

I. So this last effort of the Lancastrians was crushed 
before Edward himself appeared in arms to oppose it. 
Edward actually, however, did leave London before the 
end of April, and his journey northward led to most im- 
portant consequences of another kind ; but the victory 
had already been gained for him in his absence, long 
before he could reach Northumberland. Nor does it ap- 
pear in fact that he was aware that there was any serious 
rebellion to put down. By April 30 he had reached Stony 
Stratford, we know not with what amount of retinue ; 
but so little was his mind occupied with military matters, 
that he stole off early on the following morning to pay a 
secret visit to Grafton, the residence of the old Duchess 
of Bedford, widow of that nobleman who had been Re- 
gent of France during the minority of Henry VI. This 
duchess since her husband's death had been married to 
Richard Woodville, Lord Rivers, and she had a grown- 
up daughter, Elizabeth, who had been married to a cer- 



1464. EdwarcC s Marriage. 179 

tain Sir John Grey, but lost her husband at the second 
battle of St. Alban's, where he had fought on the side of 
King Henry. Edward was greatly fascinated by the 
charms of this widow ; and though he spent on this oc- 
casion a very brief time in her company and returned in 
a few hours to Stony Stratford, he was, at ^ , 

Edward s 

his return, a married man. The marriage marriage, 
ceremony had been performed in secret at ^^ ^' 
Grafton, but he did not dare avow the fact for some 
months afterwards. 

2. He was at this time but two-and- twenty years of age, 
but he had already been often urged to marry. An alliance 
with the royal family of France or Spain it was thought 
would do much to secure his throne ; but Edward cared 
far less for such considerations than for the gratification 
of his own pleasure, which indeed was not always so in- 
nocent as on this occasion. Good fortune, far beyond 
his own merits, had hitherto attended his course, and 
leaving the cares of state to others he had given himself 
up to the vices of a libertine. His marriage, too, was an 
act of blind imprudence. From the manner in which it 
was contracted it disappointed the Earl of Warwick and 
others who had expected him to be guided by their 
counsels ; while, on the other hand, the comparatively 
humble rank of the lady excited the jealousy of many 
powerful families. 

3. But at Michaelmas following Edward publicly ac- 
knowledged her as his queen, and next year she was 
crowned with great solemnity. Riches and honors were 
showered upon her relations. Her father, from being a 
simple baron, was created Earl Rivers. Her brother 
Anthony had already married a wealthy heiress and re- 
ceived the title of Lord Scales, but another brother, five 
sisters, and her son by her first husband, Thomas Grey, 



I So Edward IV. ch. viii. 

were also married to leading memlDers of the nobility. 
These promotions were looked upon with anything but 
satisfaction by many who had entertained hopes of se- 
curing for their own families the heirs or heiresses mono- 
polized by the Woodvilles. Offices of state, too, were 
taken from old friends of the House of York and con- 
ferred upon the Queen's relations. Lord Mountjoy was 
discharged of the office of lord treasurer to make room 
for her father Rivers, who on the resignation of the Earl 
of Worcester was also created lord high constable. 

4. With these changes came also a change of policy. 
Of all Edward's councillors the most powerful was Richard 

The Earl of Earl of Warwick, the owner of immense pos- 
Warwick. sessions and the governor of the important 

dependency of Calais. It was owing to Warwick more 
than to any other man that Edward had been seated on 
the throne. No other nobleman in England could call into 
the field such an army of feudal vassals and retainers. 
No other nobleman kept such an enormous household. 
When he came to London, the carcasses of six oxen were 
consumed at a breakfast at Warwick's Inn in Holborn. 
His wealth, his power, his experience, and the distin- 
guished services he had done for Edward's house gave 
him a right to direct the young King's counsels to which 
no one else could naturally pretend. Moreover his 
brother Lord Montague had won for Edward the victory 
over Henry VI. at Hexham, for which the King had 
worthily promoted him to the dignity of Earl of North- 
umberland, with a grant of all the forfeited lands of the 
Percies. Also his youngest brother George, whom the 
King had promoted from the bishopric of Exeter to the 
archbishopric of York, was Edward's chancellor. 

5. But with the marriage of the King Warwick and 
the Nevills must have known that their influence over 



1464' Edward's Marriage. i8i 

him was certain to decline. The act itself, indeed, was 
something like a forcible breaking away from their rule ; 
for Warwick had already set on foot negotia- 
tions for marrying the King to Bona of Savoy, rkge of the '^'^" 
who was sister to the queen of Louis XI. of ^y^J- ^° ^°"^ 

^ or bavoy. 

France. It is not true, as stated by some old 
historians, that Warwick was at the time absent at the 
French Court for the express purpose of concluding this 
match ; but there is quite distinct evidence that he had 
promoted it. Warwick's policy evidently was to strengthen 
the new dynasty upon the throne by a strict and cordial 
alliance with the French king. But Edward and his 
new advisers had quite different ideas. To them the 
friendship or enmity of France was a matter of compara- 
tive indifference ; and they turned their eyes in preference 
to France's powerful vassal the Duke of Burgundy. The 
French monarchy was not yet so strong that England 
need have any great cause to fear it as a rival, while the 
Court of Burgundy was the most magnificent in Europe. 
Besides, the traditional policy of England was to humble 
France as much as possible, and Edward was quite dis- 
posed to follow it out if once his own dominions were at 
peace under his rule. 

6. It may be questioned, indeed, whether an alliance 
with France would have been really so beneficial to him 
as Warwick supposed. The King of France, Louis XL, 
was the most subtle and astute politician of his time. He 
had ascended the throne in the same year as Edward, 
and the state of his kingdom hitherto had made it a far 
greater object with him to have peace with England 
than it was even for Edward to be undisturbed by foreign 
invasion while putting down Lancastrian in- 

A. D. 1465. 

surrections. In the very year after Edward s 

marriage the throne of Louis was exposed to extreme 



1 82 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

and unprecedented danger. A league was formed 

against him by the great vassals of the French 

Public Weal in Crown, the Duke of Burgundy and his son the 

Count of Charolois, the Dukes of Britanny 

and Bourbon, and some others, with the view of securing 

their independence by united action. They called it the 

League of the Public Weal, and they won over the King's 

own brother, the Duke of Berry, to take part in it. This 

formidable confederacy engaged the forces of Louis in a 

pitched battle at Montlhery, a few miles south 

July i6. 

of Paris. The field was most obstinately 
contested on both sides, and when night fell the issue was 
still undecided. But Louis withdrew his forces in the 
night time, and bent every effort to fortify Paris itself, 
which he succeeded in making so strong that the allies 
could not effectually besiege it. After a few months the 
war was terminated by the treaty of Con- 
flans, in which Louis was oblig-ed to make 
considerable concessions; but, profiting afterwards by 
the dissensions which sprang up among the confederates, 
he very soon recovered his lost ground and became 
much stronger than he had been before. 

7. This struggle between Louis and his powerful 
vassals was essentially the great struggle that occupied 
Policy of him through his whole reign. It was his 

Louis XI. p^j.^ ^Q recover and reanimate the depressed 

and all but extinguished monarchy of France, to vindi- 
cate the independence of her Crown and put an end to 
domestic feuds. As regards foreign princes his only 
anxiety was that they should leave him at peace to work 
out this great home problem undisturbed ; and perhaps 
the very insignificance to which French royalty had been 
reduced in some degree favored his design. For Louis 
was a king that scorned appearances, and could well be 



1465. The Burgundian Alliance. 183 

content to secure the reality of power without its sem- 
blance. Never perhaps was there a king in Europe 
whose manners were less kingly. His way of life was 
not merely unostentatious but parsimonious. He avoided 
show as much as possible. In appearance he was not 
imposing, in dress he was peculiarly slovenly, and he 
utterly despised the pomp of state. He treated in the 
most familiar manner men of the lowest birth, made his 
barber his chief councillor, and walked about in the 
company of hangmen. This familiarity with men of 
low rank in itself did much to alienate the nobles, but 
on the other hand it identified the interests of the people 
with those of a king who was always affable, always 
accessible, who took men for what they were really 
worth, and not for what they were made by birth and 
station. 

HI. The Burgundian Alliance — Warwick's Intrigues. 
I. Still, England was at peace with France, and there 
might be hopes of a cordial amity. Nor had any open 
dissensions broken out among the English nobles at 
home. Edward summoned both the Nevills and the 
Woodvilles to his counsels, and they came. Questions 
regarding foreign alliances were freely discussed by 
both parties. A match was proposed between the King's 
sister Margaret and Charles Count of Charo- 

1- 11-ri-r^i r -^ n Alliance with 

iois, son and heir of the Duke of Burgundy. Burgundy 

Warwick, on the other hand, advocated a P''°p°^^^- 

lasting peace with France, and the King so far yielded 
to his remonstrances as to send him over . 

A. D. 1407. 

to treat with Louis upon the subject. Louis May. 
received him at Rouen with peculiar honor, and had a 
number of private interviews with him which were 
afterwards made grounds of suspicion against his 



184 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

loyalty. On his return he brought with him ambassadors 
from France who were instructed to do all in their power 
to hinder the alliance between England and Burgundy. 
Louis was willing to pay the King of England a pension, 
and refer his claims to Normandy and Aquitaine to the 
decision of the Pope. But Edward received these pro- 
posals with disdain, and treated the envoys with very 
little courtesy. On the other hand the ambassadors of 
the Duke of Burgundy were received with special favor. 
Feasts and banquetings and disguisings were given in 
their honor. There was also a great display of chivalry 
in Smithfield. The Queen's brother, Anthony Lord 
Scales, had two years before sent a friendly challenge 
or invitation to the Count de la Roche, commonly called 
the Bastard of Burgundy, one of the most noted warriors 
of the time, to come to England and perform some feats 
of arms along with him. The offer was readily accepted, 
and though various impediments seem to have delayed 
its fulfilment, the Bastard had at length come to Eng- 
land with a train of Burgundian gentlemen, who gave 
similar challenges to the gentlemen of England. For 
several days in succession there were jousts between 
the Englishmen and Burgundians, and the success of 
the whole display was only marred by an accident at 
the first feat of arms between Lord Scales and his oppo- 
nent, when the latter was thrown backwards off his 
horse, the rider, who was shortsighted, having made 
the animal strike its head against an iron spike project- 
ing from Lord Scales' saddle-bow. 

2. Just after this Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, 
died, and his son Charles, the intended husband of 
Edward's sister, became duke in his place. The 
marriage took effect in the year following, and Eng- 
land and Burgundy were knit together in a firm 



1469. The Bitrgundian Alliance. 185 

alliance, greatly to the satisfaction of the Marriage of 
King and of the people generally, espe- si^'JeSfrgaret 
cially of the London merchants who traded ^/bu?^ n^d^^ 
with the Duke's subjects in Flanders, but not 
at all to the satisfaction of the Earl of Warwick, who hated 
the duke extremely. He, however, disguised his feelings 
and accompanied Margaret to the seaside on her way to 
Flanders. But from this time, if not before, he continu- 
ally plotted the humiliation of Edward, whom he him- 
self had been the means of placing on the throne. The 
King had as yet no male children, and although he had 
two daughters, who by the modern rule of descent 
should have succeeded him before his brothers, the 
Duke of Clarence seems to have anticipated that he had 
some chance of the crown. Warwick encouraged this 
hope, and gave him his own daughter Isabel in marriage, 
hoping that by so doing he himself mig^ht 

. A. D. 1469. 

recover that influence in the affairs of Eng- 
land which he had lost by the marriage of Edward. The 
wedding took place at Calais, where Warwick was gov- 
ernor, without the King's knowledge and against his 
will. But the King's attention was at that very time 
engaged by an insurrection in Yorkshire which had been 
carefully arranged by Warwick beforehand. It was led 
by one who called himself Robin of Redes- ^ ,. r. 

■' . , . . Robin of 

dale, whose real name was Sir William Redesdale's 

,. , , insurrection. 

Conyers. Manifestoes were published by 
the insurgents showing why they had taken up arms and 
complaining of the influence of Lord Rivers and the 
Queen's friends. The King proceeded northwards to 
meet them, but ordered also Lord Herbert, whom he 
had created Earl of Pembroke, to bring up forces from 
Wales, and sent a message to his brother 

. A. D. 1469. 

and the Earl of Warwick to induce them to 



1 86 Edward IV. , ch. viii. 

come to him peaceably. But the insurgents came upon 
the Earl of Pembroke and his Welsh levies near Ban- 
bury, at a place called Edgecote, and gained 
a complete victory, taking prisoners the earl 
and his brother. Sir Richard Herbert, whom they after- 
wards beheaded. Clarence and the Earl of Warwick 
came over from Calais, along with the Archbishop of 
York, who was Warwick's brother and had once been 
Edward's chancellor. But their coming was not to assist 
the King. On the contrary they took him prisoner near 
Coventry, and led him first to Warwick Castle and after- 
wards into Yorkshire. The insurgents at the same time 
took the Earl Rivers and his son Sir John Woodville 
prisoners, and put them to death at Coventry. 

3. Thus the government was for a time completely in 
Warwick's hands, the King being his prisoner, and the 
power of the Woodvilles altogether broken. But pre- 
sently Edward made his escape, or perhaps was suffered 
to regain his freedom, and a general pardon was after- 
wards proclaimed to all who had taken part in these 

commotions. This, however, did not pre- 
A. D. 1470. , - ,. , . . ^ 

Insurrection vcnt a renewal of disturbances early m the 

Robert following year, when Sir Robert Welles, the 

Welles. eldest son of Lord Welles, raising the cry 

of "King Henry!" gathered to his standard a great 
number of the commons of Lincolnshire, where he at- 
tacked the house of Sir Thomas a Borough, a knight of 
the royal household, and razed it to the ground. With 
Sir Robert Welles was associated Sir Thomas Dymock, 
the King's champion, who was his uncle by marriage. 
When the news of this insurrection reached the King he 
was provoked and alarmed in a way he had not been 
before. He was now convinced that a secret confederacy 
had been formed against him which any further acts of 



147c. Warwick! s Intrigues. 187 

clemency would only serve to encourage, and he sum- 
moned Lord Welles, the father of Sir Robert, and Sir 
Thomas Dymock, to repair to him immediately. Hear- 
ing that the King's suspicions were fully roused they 
came up to London, and at first entered the Sanctuary 
at Westminster, but being assured of pardon, Lord 
Welles came to the King and wrote a letter to his son 
desiring him to desist from his enterprise. His son, 
however, did not obey, and Edward, enraged at his ob- 
stinacy, violated the promise of security he had given to 
the father, and ordered both Lord Welles and Sir Tho- 
mas Dymock to be beheaded. 

4. It was only meeting perfidy by perfidy. As might 
be expected, the King's enemies were confounded. Sir 
Robert Welles and his confederates were desperate. He 
had been promised assistance from the Earl of Warwick 
and the Duke of Clarence ; but the king had gone north- 
wards with his army as far as the confines of Lincoln- 
shire, and no succors were at hand. Sir Robert engaged 
the royal forces in the neighborhood of Stamford ; but 
when the King's artillery opened fire the greater part of 
the insurgents flung away their coats and ^ ^ j^^q 
took to flight, leaving their leader a priso- ^^^^'^^ 
ner in the hands of his enemies. The L^se-coat 
manner in which the rebels were dispersed 
caused the action to be spoken of as the battle of Lose- 
coat Field. The defeated knew that they had no mercy 
to expect, and fled, some of them as far as Scarborough, 
where several were beheaded. Sir Robert Welles was 
beheaded the day after the battle. Before his death he 
made a full confession as to the plan and motives of the 
insurrection, by which it appeared beyond all doubt that 
the intention was to have deposed King Edward and 
made the Duke of Clarence king. 



1 88 Edward IV. ch. viil 

5. But the rebellion was now paralyzed. The Duke 
of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick fled into Lan- 
cashire, from whence they passed by sea to Southampton, 
hoping there to have secured a large ship called the 
"Trinity," belonging to the Earl of Warwick. In this 
attempt, however, they were defeated by the Queen's 
brother, Lord Scales, who by the death of his father had 
now become Earl Rivers ; for Edward had given him the 
command of some ships at Southampton and he cap- 
tured several vessels of Warwick's little fleet. Warwick 
and the Duke of Clarence escaped across the sea, while 
John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, was commissioned to 
try the prisoners taken in their ships. The result was 
that twenty persons were hanged, drawn, and quartered, 
and their heads cut off. To exhibit their quarters to 
public view in some conspicuous position was only one 
of the commonplace barbarities of the age in the punish- 
ment of treason. But by Worcester's orders a new hor- 
ror was given to this practice. The head and members 
of each of the unfortunate men were impaled on a stake 
in a manner peculiarly hideous and unaccustomed. 
Civil war, conspiracy, and rebellion had not only har- 
dened the hearts of men on both sides, but had brutal- 
ized the most refined. The Earl of Worcester was one 
of the most accomplished scholars of the time ; but he 
was remembered after this as "the butcher of England." 

IV. Edward driven out, and Henry VI. restored. 
I. As for the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of 
Clarence, they naturally sought to take refuge in Calais, 
where the Earl was governor. But Lord Wenlock, who 
had been recently appointed his lieutenant, opposed 
their landing and turned the guns of the fortress against 
them. The Duchess of Clarence, who accompanied her 



1470. Edward driven out. 189 

husband, gave birth to a son on board ship while they 
were lying at anchor before the town, and with great 
difficulty Lord Wenlock was induced to send her two 
flagons of wine for her comfort ; but on no account 
would he suffer them to approach the harbor. So that 
in the end the duke and earl were obliged to turn aside 
and seek in the French king's dominions an asylum that 
was denied them everywhere else. 

2. Louis XL, we may be sure, was not sorry to have 
an opportunity of giving protection and comfort to Ed- 
ward's enemies. Margaret of Anjou was at that very 
time living in his dominions ; and if by any means her 
cause and that of the two English noblemen could be 
made the same, Edward would certainly have occasion 
to repent his want of cordiality towards the French king. 
But what chance could there be of an alliance between 
those who had been such bitter enemies ? The Earl of 
Warwick had been the principal cause of the deposition 
and captivity of King Henry; and even if Margaret 
could mitigate her resentment on this account, she held 
it very questionable policy to forgive so notorious an 
offender. But Warwick was now most anxious to be 
reconciled to her ; he had offended King L^^jg . 
Edward beyond hope of pardon, and unless motes a re- 

■' _ . . conciliation 

he could obtain the friendship of Margaret between 
he was undone for ever. The French king Anjou and° 
offered himself a willing mediator, and "^^''^^*^^- 
through his intercession a reconciliation was at last 
accomplished. It was agreed that the Earl of Warwick 
should lead an expedition into England to recover the 
throne for King Henry, and that if it proved successful, 
Warwick's second daughter Anne was to be married to 
Henry's son, the prince ofWales. The King of France, 
for his part, engaged to lend every assistance to the 



190 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

attempt, and he accordingly furnished a fleet to protect 

the earl in crossing against the Duke of Burgundy. 

3. The earl and his company accordingly sailed from 

Harfleur and landed safely in the west of England. The 

Duke of Clarence came along with him; 
Sept. 13. ... 

and the whole expedition disembarked in 

the ports of Plymouth and Dartmouth. King Edward 

seems to have been lulled into a sense of false security 

which is altogether inexplicable. He had already had 

sufficient experience of the turbulent character of War- 

, wick and the inconstancy of his brother 

Warwick and -.r 1 n n 1 1 • ^c 

Clarence in- Clarence. Yet he actually allowed himself 
ngan . ^^ ^^ taken by surprise, believing himself 
secure in the affections of his people generally, and 
paid no attention to the warnings of his brother-in-law 
the Duke of Burgundy, who, from dread and dislike of 
Warwick even more than from love of Edward, en- 
deavored by repeated messages to put him on his guard. 
He was even indiscreet enough, at a time when the land- 
ing of Clarence and Warwick was very generally ex- 
pected, to intrust the command of forces for the protec- 
tion of the kingdom to the Marquis of Montague, War- 
wick's brother, who, besides his relationship to the prin- 
cipal leader of the invasion, had a secret grudge of his 
own against Edward; to induce him to turn traitor. 
For this marquis, formerly simple Lord Montague, had 
.been as we have already mentioned, created by Edward 
JrEarl of Northumberland in reward for the victory of 
Hexham ; but the King, finding that the people in the 
North were much devoted to Henry Percy, son of that 
Earl of Northumberland who was slain at Towton, was 
induced to res^'Vie the attainder and restore him to his 
father's dignity. Montague was accordingly prevailed 
on to surrender the earldom and to accept the higher 



1470. Edward driven out. 191 

rank of marquis for his compliance. But this was a 
mere empty honor, not accompanied by a suitable pro- 
vision in lands to maintain the increased dignity : so he 
openly told the men whom he had assembled in King 
Edward's name that the king had given him but " a 
pie's nest" to support his state, and that he would 
therefore take the part of his brother the Earl of War- 
wick in opposition to King Edward. 

4. Before the landing of Clarence and the Earl of 
Warwick, Edward had been drawn into the north to put 
down some commotions raised by Warwick's brother-in- 
law Lord Fitzhugh, who on his approach fled into Scot- 
land. He had gone as far as York, where, finding it 
needless to pursue the enemy, he rested for awhile, 
when he received the news of the invasion. Even then 
he would not at first believe his danger, and wrote to 
the Duke of Burgundy to have his fleet ready to prevent 
their escape by sea, for on land he knew how to deal 
with them. But shortly afterwards he learned to his 
dismay that Montague's soldiers were crying " God bless 
King Henry !" Very few men gathered about his stan- 
dard in Yorkshire, and he was warned that there was 
now little security for him except in flight. Edward 
Accompanied by a small body of men he ^ ^^ '^ 
rode through the night to Lynn. He had a few ships 
riding at anchor in the Wash not far off, but one lay in 
the harbor. Availing himself of this and two Dutch 
merchant ships he embarked with his „ 
brother the Duke of Gloucester, his brother- and embarks 

_. ,. , ,,.T ITT for Holland. 

m-law Rivers, his chamberlain Lord Hast- 
ings, and about 800 followers. The little company were 
without clothes except what they had upon their backs ; 
but no time was to be lost and they set sail for Holland. 
Edward landed at Alkmaar and proceeded to the 



192 Edward IV. CH. viii. 

Hague, where he threw himself upon the protection of 
the Duke of Burgundy. 

5. The Earl of Warwick was now master of the king- 
dom. King Henry was released from the Tower, and 
was once more recognized as king. The Earl of Wor- 
cester, whose hideous executions at Southampton were 
fresh in people's memory, was arraigned of treason at 
Whitehall, condemned, and executed upon Tower Hill. 
Parliament was then assembled to ratify the arrange- 
ments that had been made in France. An act was 
passed entailing the crown on the male issue of King 
Henry, and in default of such issue on the Duke of 
Clarence and the heirs of his body. The duke and 
Warwick were appointed protectors of the kingdom dur- 
ing the minority of Edward Prince of Wales. The 
former was recognized as heir to his father the late Duke 
of York ; while the latter was appointed to a number of 
high offices of state, some of which he had held before. 

V. Return of King Edward. 

I. But in less than six months after being driven from 
his kingdom Edward was enabled to return to it by the 
A D 1471 private assistance of his brother-in-law the 

March 14. Duke of Burgundy. He embarked at Flush- 
ing on March 2, and landed on the 14th at Ravenspur, 
where Henry IV. had disembarked when he came to 
dethrone King Richard. His circumstances in other re- 
spects were so similar to those of Henry, that he adopted 
precisely the same line of policy. To induce the people 
of Yorkshire to withdraw their opposition to him, he pro- 
fessed that he came only to seek his rightful inheritance, 
the dukedom of York. He disclaimed any intention of 
removing King Henry, and being admitted into the city 
of York he solemnly abjured all pretensions to the crown. 



t47i- Return of King Edward. 193 

But as he passed southwards numbers came to his 
standard, and in direct violation of his oath he issued 
proclamations as king. No attempt was made to resist 
his progress before he reached the capital. He was 
joined near Coventry by his brother Clarence, who for a 
long time had been secretly anxious for a reconciliation, 
or at least had expressed to secret agents his willingness 
to abandon Warwick's party on a favorable opportunity. 
Edward advanced to London, and was readily admitted 
by the citizens, many of whom were his creditors. He 
then went out to meet his opponents, Warwick and 
Montague, at Barnet, carrying with him the unhappy 
King, Henry VI., once more a captive in his hands. 

2. Edward occupied the town of Barnet on the even- 
ing of April 13. The enemy were encamped on the 
north. During the night Edward drew up 

,. . ^ A. D. 1471. 

his forces opposite to them, mtendmg to give 
them battle at daybreak. That morning was Easter 
Sunday. About 4 o'clock the day began to Battle of Bar- 
dawn, but the whole scene was obscured "^*' ^P"^ ^4- 
by a dense fog, which prevented Edward from discover- 
ing that he had mistaken during the darkness the pre- 
cise position of the enemy. At 5 o'clock, however, the 
fighting commenced. Edward's forces on the left were 
very much outflanked by those of the Earl of Warwick, 
and after some time began to give way. A number of 
Edward's men fled the field and spread news in Barnet 
and on the road to London that the day was lost. The 
Earl's right wing closed upon the retreating combatants 
and came opposite their own left wing commanded by 
the Earl of Oxford. But owing to the fog that still pre- 
vailed they did not know their own men, and Oxford's 
badge, a star with streams, was mistaken for the " sun 
of York." Warwick's men accordingly shot at Oxford's. 

o 



194 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

and the latter cried out " Treason ! " and fled. At length 
after six hours' fighting the Earl of Warwick and his 
brother Montague were slain, and King Edward's party 
were triumphant. But the slaughter on both sides was 
very heavy ; for the action being a critical one for King 
Edward, he forebore to order his soldiers to spare the 
common people in the ranks of his antagonists, which 
had been his usual practice in these wars. 

3. The Earl of Warwick is known in history by the 
name of Warwick the " King-maker." The title is truly 
significant of his power, which had been twice most 
signally shown in the setting up of one king and the 
deposition of another. He was the last great feudal 
noblem "^. who ever made himself dangerous to a reigning 
king. His policy throughout appears to have been 
selfish and treacherous, and his removal was an un- 
questionable blessing to his country. 

4. Edward now entered London in triumph, and sent 
back King Henry a prisoner to the Tower. But he was 

immediately compelled to leave the city in 

Margaret j " ^ t? rs 

lands in Order to meet a new enemy. I* or Queen 

ngan . Margaret, who had not yet come over from 
France to join her husband in his prosperity, at length 
landed with a body of Frenchmen at Weymouth on the 
very day her great ally was defeated and slain at Bar- 
net. Next day she proceeded to Cerne Abbey, where 
she was visited by the Duke of Somerset and other lords 
of her party, who assured her that, notwithstanding the 
reverse sustained by their side, she would still be able to 
raise a power, especially in the western counties where 
she had landed. By their advice she accordingly pro- 
ceeded, with her son the prince, to Exeter. The people 
of Cornwall and Devon rose to do her service, and in a 
very few days she again moved eastward by Glastonbury 



1471- Return of King Edward. 195 

to Bath. Here learning that Edward was approaching 
with his army, she turned aside to Bristol, and afterwards 
bent her course northward by Gloucester, where the 
gates were shut against her, and after _a fatiguing day's 
march of thirty-six miles, arrived at Tewkesbury. That 
same evening King Edward passed Cheltenham and 
lodged within three miles of them. Next ^^ 
morning, May 4, he gave them battle. 

5. In this action the Lancastrians were utterly de- 
feated. Queen Margaret was taken prisoner. Her son 
Edward by some accounts was slain on the 
field ; according to others he was murdered Tewkes- 
after the battle in the presence of King Ed- ^^'^• 
ward himself. The tradition in a later age was that he 
was murdered by Richard Duke of- Gloucester; but the 
fact may be that when Richard in after years horrified 
the world by a crime still more revolting, a number of 
earlier deeds of violence were attributed to him of which 
he was really guiltless. Richard, although he had led 
the van of Edward's army at Barnet, was at this time 
only in his nineteenth year; and though doubtless he was 
receiving an education in ferocity from the unnatural 
character of the wars in which he was engaged, it may 
perhaps be questioned whether the writers of the next 
age were right in thinking he had begun his career of 
violence so early. King Edward's own conduct at this 
time was cruel and unscrupulous enough. He himself, 
sword in hand, pursued a number of the defeated party 
into the abbey church of Tewkesbury. A priest, bearing 
the host in his hand, came out to meet him at the door, 
and obtained from him a promise that he would spare 
the lives of the Duke of Somerset and fourteen other 
persons who had sought refuge there. But in violation 
of this pledge they were all beheaded two days later. 



196 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

6. The utmost that can be said to extenuate Edward's 
perfidy on this and other occasions is that he had re- 
course to it at the most critical period in his fortunes, 
when beset with difficulties at every turn. His natural 
disposition does not appear to have been cruel ; but at 
Barnet he gave no quarter, feeling that all was lost for 
him if he did not deal that day a decisive blow against 
the enemy. He was victorious, yet he was immediately 
called to contend with a new enemy in the west ; and 
now while he was away in Gloucestershire one of War- 
wick's sea-captains named the Bastard Fal- 

FafconbSge conbridge landed in Kent to make another 
makes an diversion in favor of King Henry. In Kent 

attempt in . 

Henry's he procured a certain number of followers, 

, 1I, ..„. and coming up to London endeavored to 

A. D. 1471. '-' '^ 

force an entrance into the city with the view 
of liberating Henry from the Tower. But having set 
Aldgate and London Bridge on fire he exasperated the 
citizens, so that they made a more resolute resistance 
than they would otherwise have done, and he found it 
necessary to give up the attempt. 

7. King Edward returned with his army to London 
on May 21. He was received in triumph by the mayor 

and citizens, who went out to meet him be- 

May 21. 

tween Shoreditch and Islington ; and on the 
highway before he entered the city he made knights of 
a number of the aldermen. Three days later he marched 
into Kent in pursuit of the Bastard Falconbridge. But 
during his brief stay in London an event occurred which 
throws the deepest shadow of suspicion upon Edward's 
„ . . . conduct. On the very night of his arrival 

Suspicious . . 

death of King Henry died in his prison within the 

enry . Xower. His bodywas exhibited at St. Paul's 

the following day, and it was given out that his death had 



1 4 7 1 • Return of King Edward. 197 

been owing to " pure displeasure and melancholy." 
But the coincidence of the event with Edward's arrival 
in the capital, and the too obvious advantage to the King 
of getting rid of a rival whose adherents gave him so 
much trouble, convinced the world at large that this was 
only a pretence. Henry had now no son to avenge his 
death or to claim succession to his kingdom ; and from 
what we have already seen of Edward there is very little 
reason to doubt that he caused the poor feeble monarch 
to be secretly assassinated. The suspicion, indeed, is 
hinted even by a writer friendly to the King, who wrote 
within the security of a monastery. From this time, at 
all events, Edward was no longer troubled with rebellions 
in favor of the house of Lancaster. 

8. The sudden and extraordinary changes ^, 

r r • 111 • 1 1 • Changes of 

of fortune experienced by the two rival kings fortune 
during those unhappy commotions were wlrs^of ^ 
shared by their adherents among the no- ^^ Roses, 
bility, some of whom during the adverse circumstances 
of their party suffered the most severe distress and pov- 
erty. Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, who, though he 
had married a sister of Edward IV., took part with the 
House of Lancaster, was seen at one time in the Low 
Countries bare-footed and bare-legged, begging his 
bread from door to door, till he was recognized and 
pensioned by the Duke of Burgundy. Queen Elizabeth 
Woodville, when her husband was driven into exile, was 
obliged to take refuge in the Sanctuary at Westminster, 
where she gave birth to her eldest son, afterwards Ed- 
ward V. As for Margaret of Anjou, she remained a 
prisoner in England after the battle of Tewkesbury un- 
til, on Edward making peace with France in 1475, she 
was ransomed by Louis XL and returned to her own 
country. 



198 Edward IV. CH. viii. 

VI. War with France. 

1. Civil dissensions being now appeased, Edward was 
easily induced to combine with Charles of Burgundy 
against Louis. The proposal to make war on France 
met with general approbation from his subjects, supplies 
were voted for the purpose by Parliament, and by the 
clergy in convocation, and to crown all, large sums were 
subscribed by the wealthy at the King's particular re- 
quest. An unprecedented treasure was thus accumulated, 
but the means employed to raise it were not greatly 

" Benevo- relished. The subscriptions of the wealthy 
lences." were called benevolences, being regarded as 

voluntary donations expressive of the good-will and 
patriotism of those contributing. But from the influence 
brought to bear upon the donors they were felt to be of 
the nature of extortion ; for Edward himself, in many 
cases, solicited contributions personally. Though nomi- 
nally a free gift, no tax was ever felt more oppressive ; 
and the evil example set by Edward was unfortuna,tely 
followed by several of his successors. 

2. In the summer of 1475 Edward crossed the sea 
with a magnificent army. Before embarking, he sent 
Edward in- Garter king of arms to Louis to require him 
vades France, ^o deliver up the kingdom of France to him 
as his lawful inheritance. Another king of France 
would doubtless have treated with contempt this extra- 
vagant claim which the English still continued to reas- 
sert. But Louis had no thought of resisting by force of 
arms. The invading army was strong, and if the Duke 
of Burgundy had brought the amount of aid that might 
have been expected, it would have been quite within the 
power of the allies to have dealt a very severe blow 
against France. The duke, however, had allowed him- 



1475- War with France. 199 

self to be occupied too long with an expedition into Ger- 
many, where he laid siege to Neuss near Diisseldorf, 
and at his coming he failed to give Edward satisfaction. 
Of this Louis took advantage. He told Garter he was 
^ell aware that the King of England did not mean to 
invade France on his own account, and that it was appa- 
rent the Duke of Burgundy could not give him much 
assistance ; then dismissing the herald with a handsome 
present, he promised him a still more valuable reward 
if he could prevail upon his master to consent to peace. 
3. Edward was greatly flattered with the thought that 
he had so soon inspired his enemy with a desire to treat, 
and the wily King of France omitted no art to deepen 
the impression. No sooner, therefore, had the English 
king set foot upon the Continent than Louis Louis orfers to 
sent to him to know if he was disposed to '^^^^^■ 
come to terms, suggesting at the same time that the 
Duke of Burgundy had been using Edward for his own 
ends, and that the year was so far advanced that the 
invaders could not hope to make much progress before 
the winter. Negotiations were accordingly opened, and 
though the Enghsh began, as usual, with their formal 
demand of the whole realm of France, they gradually 
abated their pretensions. First they lowered their de- 
mands to the restitution of Normandy and Guienne. 
But Louis had fully resolved beforehand to consent to no 
cession of territory ; and in the end the Enghsh were 
satisfied with a seven years' truce and the a seven years* 
payment of a large yearly pension by France ^^^^ arranged, 
to England. This payment they were free to regard as 
an acknowledgment of Edward's sovereignty over 
France, while Louis and his friends took a different view 
of it. They called it a pension; the Enghsh a tribute. 
A liberal distribution of pensions was also made by 



200 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

Louis to the chief councillors of the King of England 
for their services in promoting the peace. 

4. At the same time provisions were made in the 
treaty which gave hope that it might one day be turned 
into a lasting peace ; for it was arranged that the Daut- 
phin Charles should marry Edward's eldest daughter 
Elizabeth as soon as the parties were of sufficient age. 

5. Matters being thus settled, an interview took place 
between the two kings at Pequigny on the Somme. A 

Interview at bridge was thrown across the river with a 
Pequigny. woodcn grating in the middle, through 
which they shook hands. This arrangement had been 
made by the suspicious Louis to prevent the possibility 
of treachery ; mindful of the fate of John the Fearless, 
Duke of Burgundy, he allowed no wicket within the 
barrier. But after swearing to observe the treaty on both 
sides, the two kings entered into conversation with the 
utmost freedom and familiarity ; insomuch that Louis, in 
an unguarded moment, half invited the other to come 
and see him at Paris. The invitation was indeed thrown 
out in the way of jest, with some raillery about Edward's 
devotion to the fair sex, and the beautiful ladies who 
would be sure to captivate him in France ; but Edward, 
to the other's no little annoyance, seemed not at all dis- 
inclined to accept it seriously. Louis, however, took 
care not to give him an opportunity ; and in private he 
afterwards expressed an opinion to Commines that the 
kings of England had been often enough in Paris and 
in Normandy already. He had great desire to preserve 
the friendship of Edward, but much preferred that he 
should keep on his own side of the water. 

VII. France and Burgundy. 
I. Before proceeding further with the story of English 
events it will now be advisable that we should say some- 



1475- France and Burgundy. 201 

thing of the rivalry between the French king and his 
powerful vassal, Charles Duke of Burgundy. We have 
already seen the weakness to which the French monarchy 
was reduced at the beginning of the reign of Louis XI. 
The Burgundian court, on the other hand, although that 
of a feudal inferior, was the most wealthy and magnifi- 
cent in all Europe. For some time also the Duke of 
Burgundy maintained the advantage he had gained over 
his sovereign in the war of the Public Weal. Louis 
formed a league against him with the citizens of Liege, 
but Charles contrived to seize his person and shut him 
up in the castle of Peronne until he made him atone for 
his intrigues by a considerable cession of territory. The 
people of Liege were at this time engaged in a second 
revolt against their bishop (who was their temporal ruler 
as well), although they had been already severely pun- 
ished for their insubordination by Charles, by the for- 
feiture of all their ancient chartered rights and the 
demolition of the walls of the town. They would natu- 
rally have looked for assistance from the King of France ; 
but Louis had fallen so completely into the power of 
Charles, that to gain his liberty he disowned his allies 
and offered to come with the Duke of Burgundy to 
Liege, where he witnessed with apparent satisfaction the 
most terrible vengeance taken on his own Massacre 
supporters. The city was completely sacked, ° '^^^' 
and the inhabitants were massacred even in the churches 
by a brutal soldiery. After this, Louis endeavored, by sup- 
porting the Earl of Warwick, to deprive Charles of his 
ally the King of England, — a design which, as we have 
seen, gave much greater anxiety to the Duke of Bur- 
gundy than it did to Edward himself, who could not be 
awakened to his danger until it was too late. At length, 
owing to the French king's repeated breaches of faith. 



202 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

Charles took it upon him to declare his independence 
of the French crown and made a treaty with the Em- 
peror Frederic III., who engaged to bestow upon him the 
title of king, instead of duke, of Burgundy, on condition 
that he would give his daughter Mary in marriage to 
,„ , , the Emperor's son Maximilian. To conclude 

Charles the ^ 

Bold and the this matter Charles repaired to a diet at 

Emperor. _, . , , _, , , 

Treves m 1473, but the Emperor receded 
from his part of the engagement and retired from Treves 
when everything was ready for Charles' coronation. In 
resentment of this affront Charles next year invaded 
Germany and laid siege to Neuss — an operation which, 
as already mentioned, prevented him from fulfilling 
punctually his engagements with England in the war 
which they had agreed to undertake together against 
France. 

2. It was always the policy of Louis to raise up ene- 
mies for Charles without, if possible, allowing his own 
hand to be seen in the business. By his subtle and mys- 
terious diplomacy, Charles was involved in wars with 

the Swiss, and in 1476 he sustained a great 
A. D. 1476. ° 

defeat at Granson on the borders of Lake 
Neufchatel, which was followed by another equally dis- 
astrous at Morat. Here another enemy had taken part 
against him, Rene IL, Duke of Lorraine, whom he had 
deprived of the possession of his duchy. The people of 
Lorraine now expelled the Burgundian garrisons, and 
the retreat of Charles seemed almost hopelessly cut off. 
Nevertheless, even in the midst of winter, Charles pene- 
trated into Lorraine and compelled the duke to return in 
A. D. 1477 haste to defend his capital, Nancy. A short 
Jan. 5. a^nj decisive battle took place under the 

walls of the town. The Burgundians were put to flight, 
and Charles himself was slain. By his last campaigns 



1476. Fate of Clarence. 203 

he more especially merited the title by which he is 
known in history. His cavalry and artillery labored 
under the greatest disadvantages among the Swiss 
mountains, and he lost two great battles by a disregard 
of common prudence. He is commonly spoken of in 
English as Charles the Bold, but the French still more 
truly name him Charles the Rash. 

VHI. Fate of Clarence — The Scotch War — Death of 
Edward. 

I. It might have been supposed that the House of 
York was now securely seated upon the throne ; and, 
so far as regarded Edward himself, nothing more oc- 
curred to disturb his possession. But the family divisions 
which had already sprung up pursued that house ulti- 
mately to its ruin. The breach between the King and 
his brother Clarence, it soon appeared, was ^ 
only superficially healed over. A quarrel between the 
also took place between Clarence and his clarence 
other brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester. ^'^\ ^^°"" 

' _ cester. 

After the death of Edward Prince of Wales, 
the son of King Henry, at Tewkesbury, his widow Anne, 
who, it will be remembered, was a daughter of Warwick 
the King-maker, was sought by Gloucester in marriage ; 
but Clarence, who had married her elder sister, opposed 
his suit and attempted to conceal her. Richard, how- 
ever, discovered her in London in the disguise of a cook- 
maid, and had her removed to the Sanctuary of St. Mar- 
tin's. When Clarence was no longer able to prevent 
the match, he still refused to divide with his brother the 
inheritance of their father-in-law the Earl of Warwick. 
By the mediation of Edward the matter was at length 
settled, and an act was passed in Parliament making a 
division of Warwick's lands between the royal brothers, 



204 Edward IV. ch. viii. 

with very little consideration for the rights of his survi- 
ving countess. 

2. But in the course of a few years symptoms of the 
old ill-will broke out between the Duke of Clarence and 
Clarence Edward himself. On the death of Charles 
favor Duke of Burgundy, Clarence, who was then 
again, ^^ widower, was desirous to marry his daugh- 
ter and heiress Mary. Such a match would have made 
him a powerful continental prince, and his suit was 
favored by his sister Margaret, the widow of the duke ; 
but Edward threw every obstacle in the way. This, in 
addition to some former injuries, real or supposed, em- 
bittered Clarence against his brother in a way he did not 
care to conceal. At last, some gentlemen of his house- 
hold having been accused of sorcery, condemned, and 
executed, Clarence, before the King's council, protested 
his belief in their innocence. This step was treated by 
the King as dangerous to the administration of justice, 
and he caused his brother to be arrested and committed 
to the Tower. 

3. When Parliament met in the beginning of the year 

1478, Clarence was impeached of treason by 
A. D. 147 , ]^jg Q^j^ brother before the House of Peers, 
impeached of ]sjq other accuser stepped forward but the 

treason, ^ ^ 

King himself; but the whole of his past in- 
trigues and rebellions were now brought up against him. 
It was related in the indictment how he had been already 
pardoned the most serious offences, and yet had conspired 
again against his brother. It was set forth also how at one 
time, for the gratification of his ambition, he had not hesi- 
tated to cast a stigma upon his own mother, declaring 
his brother Edward illegitimate and himself the true heir 
of his father. With these a number of other circum- 
stances were related, all tending to show that he made it 



1478. Fate of Clarence- 205 

still his aim to supplant King Edward. The ^^^ 
lords found Clarence guilty and he was con- 
demned to death. Execution of the sentence was, how- 
ever, delayed for several days, until the Speaker of the 
House of Commons, coming to the bar of the Lords, 
desired that the matter might be brought to a ^nd put to 
conclusion. Shortly afterwards the duke was ^^^*^' ^^^- ^^• 
put to death within the Tower in a manner so very secret 
that, although the day was known, the kind of death he 
suffered was a matter of uncertainty. A singular report, 
however, got abroad that he had been drowned in a butt 
of Malmsey wine. 

4. Perhaps the very secrecy of the execution, if such it 
mig-ht be called, was owing to Edward's reluctance to 
carry out the sentence ; for there is reason to believe, 
after all, that the whole proceedings were painful to him. 
After the death of Clarence, it is said, when any man 
besought the King for the pardon of an offender, he 
would exclaim, "O unfortunate brother, that no man 
would ask pardon for thee !" But whatever the effect on 
Edward's peace of mind, the removal of Clarence con- 
tributed to the quiet of his kingdom. For he had been, 
beyond all question, factious and turbulent in the ex- 
treme. Yet he had some qualities which won him the 
favor of the multitude and made him a popular idol. 
His popularity, too, was all the more dangerous to 
Edward because, according to an act of Parliament 
passed during the restoration of Henry VL, Clarence 
ought to have been the legitimate king after the death 
of Edward Prince of Wales. Of this act of Parliament, 
of course, Edward did not recognize the authority ; but 
he felt it necessary now to get his Parliament to repeal it. 
5. There is little else that is memorable in Edward's 
reign except a war with Scotland that broke out at the 



2o6 Edward IV. ch. viii". 

close of it. To strengthen his family upon the throne, 
Edward had arranged marriages for most of his children 
with foreign princes, and while his eldest daughter Eliza- 
beth was contracted by treaty to the dauphin, Cecily, the 
third, was engaged to Prince James, the eldest son of 
James III. of Scotland. In consideration of this latter 
match Edward had agreed to give with his daughter a 
dower of 20,000 marks, of which three instalments had 
already been paid in advance, though the parties had 
not yet arrived at a marriageable age. Some misunder- 
standing, however, broke out between the two kings, 
partly, as it is supposed,through the intrigues of Louis XL, 
who, as the time drew near when the dauphin ought to 
have claimed his bride, showed a great disposition to 
evade his own obligations to England. But whatever 
,,, . may have been the exact cause, Edward and 

James III. in- ^ r r • i i 

vades England, Jamcs c.ach accuscd the Other of unfair deal- 
A. D. 14 o. .^^^ and James in the spring of 1480 actually 
marched an army across the Borders into Northumber- 
land. 

6. The King of England, for his part, commissioned 

his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester to lead his forces 

against the invader. At the same time the 

May 12. ° 

domestic state of Scotland gave Edward great 
advantages. James III. was a king distinguished for a 
love of art and science, which his nobles held in great 
contempt. His court was the resort of musicians and 
architects, by whose advice he was supposed to be 
governed in matters affecting the weal of his kingdom. 
His own brothers were disaffected to him. One of 
them, the Earl of Mar, is said to have been put to 
death by his orders. The other, Alexander Duke of 
Albany, escaped to France, but was invited over to 
England by Edward, with whom he entered into treaty 



1482. Fate of Clarence. 207 

for assistance to make himself Kin? of Scot- 

° A. D. 1482. 

land, pretending that his brother was ille- June n. 
gitimate. He engaged, on obtaining his kingdom, to 
deliver up Berwick to the English, and he went with the 
Duke of Gloucester to lay siege to that town, which sur- 
rendered with very little resistance. James, meanwhile, 
was advancing at the head of his forces to make a new 
inroad on the English Border; but having arrived at 
Lauder, a conference was held in the church by his dis- 
contented lords, who in the end seized seven ^, ^ 

Ine Scotch 

of the detested favorites and hanged them lords seize and 
over the bridge. The Scotch army was then King's ^^kvor^ 
disbanded and the King conveyed back to ''^^^• 
Edinburgh by the nobles, who extorted from him a full 
pardon for what they had done. Albany Albany and 
and Gloucester then marched on to Edin- marchto^Edin- 
burgh, and were received within the city as ^"rgh. 
friends. 

7. But Albany was well aware that his title to the 
crown of Scotland would not be supported within the 
realm itself. A compromise was therefore arranged, and 
a peace was concluded between all parties. The sums 
advanced by Edward for his daughter's dower were re- 
paid, and Berwick was given up to England. Albany, 
however, very soon afterwards renewed his intrigues with 
Edward; as a consequence of which he was attainted 
by the Parliament of Scotland. 

8. As for Edward, he had scarcely composed this dis- 
pute with Scotland when he met with a cruel mortifica- 
tion at the hands of Louis XI. of France. 

It is evident that that wily monarch had breaks faith 
never really intended the match between ^^"^ ^^^ 
the dauphin and the Princess Elizabeth to take effect. 
Edward, on the other hand, had been induced by the 



2o8 Edward IV. CH. viii. 

prospect of this alliance to make peace with Louis on 
more easy terms, perhaps, than he might otherwise have 
granted. Time passed away, however, and Louis took 
no steps to bring the matter to a conclusion, till at last 
a great opportunity presented itself of violating his 
engagement openly. Charles the Bold, Duke of Bur- 
gundy, had been defeated and slain at Nancy in 1477. 
He left an only daughter, Mary, to inherit his rich 
dominions, which included not only Burgundy but a 
great part of the Low Countries. Her territories were 
invaded by Louis, but she married Maximilian of Austria, 
son of the Emperor Frederick III., who, though the 
poorest prince of Europe, was a very good soldier and 
recovered for her several places that had submitted to 
the French. The Duchess Mary, however, was unex- 
pectedly cut off in March 1482 by a fall from her horse. 
She left two young children, Philip and Margaret, of 
whom the former was heir to the duchy ; but their father 
Maximilian was despised by the Flemings and had no 
means of making his authority respected. The men of 
Ghent, who were secretly encouraged by Louis, took 
possession of his children and compelled him to govern 
as they pleased ; till in the end he was driven to con- 
clude with the French king a treaty at Arras by which 
Margaret was to be married to the dauphin and to have 
as her dower some of the most valuable lands in Bur- 
gundy, taken from the inheritance of her brother Philip. 

9. This treaty was concluded on December 23, 1482. 
The mortification it gave to Edward was extreme, and 

„ French writers say that he died of the disap- 

Edward. pointment. Whether that be the case or not, 

he did not survive it four months ; for he died on April 9, 
1483. With many great defects in his character, he was 
a king more in sympathy with his people than any sove- 



1483. Death of Edward IV. 209 

reign that had been seen in England since the days of 
Edward III. Handsome in person and affable in man- 
ner, he was always easy to be approached. He was a 
great favorite with the citizens of London, and rather 
too much so with their wives. Careless and self-indul- 
gent, he was greatly given to licentiousness, and forgot 
the affairs of his kingdom in pursuing his own pleasures. 
He was a good soldier but a bad general, a jovial com- 
panion but a poor statesman. His personal influence 
with his subjects was higher perhaps than that of any of 
his predecessors ; but he cannot be regarded as by any 
means a great king. 



CHAPTER IX. 

EDWARD V. 



I. Edward, the son and heir of the deceased king, was 
at Ludlow on the borders of Wales when his father died. 
He had been sent thither as Prince of Wales to hold a 
court and keep the country in good order; for which 
purpose a council had been assigned to him consisting 
originally of his uncles the Dukes of Clarence and Glou- 
cester, his maternal uncle Anthony Earl Rivers, Lord 
Hastings, and several others. But the Duke of Clarence 
was dead, the Duke of Gloucester in the North, and Lord 
Hastings in London ; so that when young Edward, who 
was only in his thirteenth year, received the news of his 
own accession to the throne, he was surrounded prin- 
cipally by his mother's relations. 

2. Now it was most unfortunate for the young King 
himself that both his mother and her kinsfolk were looked 
upon with dislike and jealousy by the old nobility. The 

P 



2IO Edward V. ch. ix. 

_, , , Woodvilles had always been regarded as up- 

The old no- , , , -^ . ^ , , , . ^ 

bility jealous of starts, Dut under the reign of the late king no 
loyal subject could say anything against 
them. The Council in London, however, were of 
opinion that it would be advisable to remove the new 
King entirely from the influence of his maternal relatives ; 
and though the Queen Dowager desired that he should 
be brought up to London with as large an escort as 
possible, the lords could not be persuaded to sanction a 
stronger retinue than was needed for his personal safety. 
Lord Hastings, who was governor of Calais, took alarm, 
and talked of departing immediately across the sea. The 
Queen's friends were obliged to give assurances that no 
large force should come up ; and orders were sent down 
to Ludlow that the company should on no account exceed 
2,000 horse. 

3. On his death-bed the late king had bequeathed the 
care of the young prince and his kingdom more especially 
to his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester. When, there- 
fore, tidings of Edward's death were sent into the North, 
Richard at once set out for London. He reached North- 
ampton on April 29, and found that the young King had 
been there that day before him and had passed on to 
Stony Stratford, ten miles further on. He was met, how- 
ever, by the young King's uncle and half-brother, the 
Earl Rivers and Lord Richard Grey, who had ridden 
back to pay their respects to him in Edward's name. 
Henry Duke of Buckingham also joined the party. He, 
it is said, had been already in communication with Glou- 
cester. With apparent cordiality all sat down together 
to supper ; but after the retirement of Rivers and Grey 
the two dukes held a consultation, the result of which 

Arrest of was that early next morning they caused 
Rivers and ^^^^ guests to be arrcstcd, and pushed on 



1483- Gloucester and the Que 671^ s Kin> 211 

to Stony Stratford before the royal party had time to 
get away. They obtained an audience of the young 
King, and in his presence accused his uncle Rivers 
and his two half-brothers, the Marquis of Dorset and 
Lord Richard Grey, of a design to usurp the government 
and oppress the old nobihty. Dorset, it seems, who was 
Constable of the Tower, had taken supplies of arms and 
money out of that fortress and fitted out a small fleet ; 
while Rivers and Lord Richard Grey had shown a most 
suspicious haste in bringing young Edward up to London. 
4. The poor lad could not believe these accusations, 
and burst into tears on hearing them. The two dukes, 
however, caused Rivers and Grey, with two other gentle- 
men of his household, to be sent in custody into York- 
shire, where, after being confined for nearly two months 
in different places, they were ultimately beheaded at 
Pomfret. Meanwhile the young King continued his jour- 
ney to London in the company of his uncle Gloucester 
and the Duke of Buckingham. Alarm had been at first 
created in the city by the news of the arrests made at 
Northampton, but the fact became known that large 
quantities of armor and weapons were found among 
the baggage of Rivers and the King's attendants ; and 
this discovery produced an impression that their impris- 
onment was perfectly justified. The mayor and citizens 
accordingly met the young King and his uncle at Horn- 
sea Park and conducted him into the city. They en- 
tered it on May 4, a day that had been originally set 
apart for Edward's coronation. That ceremony was 
now deferred till June 22. Meanwhile the Duke of 
Gloucester was declared Protector of the The Duke 
young King and his kingdom, and a parlia- te^r^'ameT 
ment was summoned to assemble three Protector. 
days after the coronation. 



212 Edward V. ch. ix. 

5. But the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Woodville, on 
hearing that her brother and her son had been arrested 
The Queen at Northampton, had quitted Westminster 
tak^s^^^"^ Palace and gone into the adjoining Sanctu- 
Sanctuary. ^j-y^ Here Rotherham, Archbishop of York, 
who had been lord chancellor at the death of Ed- 
ward IV., brought her the Great Seal of England as a 
guarantee that nothing should be done against the in- 
terest of her son. This act was a grave official mis- 
demeanor, which he had soon cause to repent ; for the 
office of chancellor was taken from him, and a censure 
was passed upon him by the Council for letting the Seal 
go out of his custody. The Queen's influence, which 
had been so great during the reign of her husband, was 
now completely at an end, and the old nobility rejoiced 
at having got rid of her ascendancy — a revolution, as 
Lord Hastings triumphantly remarked, that had cost no 
more blood than a cut finger. 

6. Hastings, indeed, had been a principal cause of 
this change ; but notwithstanding his open boast he 
seems very soon to have repented it and held meetings 
with the Queen's friends at St. Paul's to consider how to 
get the King out of Richard's power. Richard at the 
same time held meetings with his supporters at Crosby's 
Place in Bishopsgate Street, where he then resided. At 
last at a council held within the Tower, he caused Has- 
Hastings tings Suddenly to be arrested and immedi- 
beheaded. ^^^j^ ^^^^^ beheaded on Tower Green. Mor- 
ton Bishop of Ely. and Archbishop Rotherham were 
also placed in confinement. The Dukes of Gloucester 
and Buckingham then sent for the principal citizens, 
and appearing before them in rusty armor which they 
had suddenly put on, explained that they had only that 
morning heard of a conspiracy formed against them by 



1483. Execution of Hastings. 213 

Hastings and others, who would have killed the Protec- 
tor and taken the government into their own hands. 

7. This sudden execution of one who, to outward ap- 
pearance, had been all along most friendly to the two 
dukes against whom he was said to have conspired, oc- 
casioned general astonishment. The act was certainly 
quite illegal, and it is hard to see how it could have been 
necessary even in self-defence. Read by the light of 
subsequent events it seems to admit only of one inter- 
pretation — that Richard was at this time plotting his own 
elevation to the throne, and, finding that Hastings could 
not be relied on to second his designs, had determined 
to remove him. But an impression does seem to have 
been conveyed, which is stated as a simple fact in a 
history written many years after, that Richard on this 
occasion only anticipated violence by equally high- 
handed measures of his own. The view, however, which 
has obtained most general currency is derived from a 
very graphic account of the scene in the council cham- 
ber written by Sir Thomas More, who unquestionably 
obtained his information from Cardinal Morton, at that 
time Bishop of Ely, one of the persons then arrested by 
the Protector. According to this narrative the blow 
which fell upon Hastings altogether took him by sur- 
prise. The story is, in brief, as follows. 

8. The Protector made his appearance in the council 
chamber about nine o'clock in the morning. His man- 
ner was gracious. He blamed his own lazi- The scene 

r . • T J i • i. at the Coun- 

ness for not commg earlier and turnmg to cii in the 
Morton Bishop of Ely, said, " My lord, you ^ower. 
have very good strawberries in your garden at Holborn ; 
I pray you let us have a mess of them." After this, 
having opened the business of the council and engaged 
the lords in conversation he took leave of them for a 



214 Edward V. ch. ix. 

time. Between ten and eleven o'clock he returned. 
His manner was altogether altered, and as he took his 
seat he frowned on the assembly and bit his lips. After 
a pause he asked what punishment they deserved who 
had conspired against the life of one so nearly related 
to the King as himself, and intrusted with the govern- 
ment of the kingdom. The council was confounded, 
but Hastings, presuming on his familiarity with the Pro- 
tector, said they deserved the punishment of traitors. 
"That sorceress, my brother's wife," exclaimed Rich- 
ard, " and others with her, see how they have wasted 
my body by their sorcery and witchcraft ! " And as he 
spoke he bared his left arm and showed it to the coun- 
cil, shrunk and withered, as it always had been. He 
added that one of the accomplices of the Queen Dowager 
in this business was Jane Shore, who had been one of 
the mistresses of the late king her husband, and since 
his death had become the mistress of Hastings. 

9. The accusation against the Queen Dowager, we 
are told, was not at all displeasing to Hastings, who 
regarded her with deadly hatred ; but when the protect- 
or mentioned the name of Shore's wife he felt very 
differently. He, however, ventured to reply, " Certainly, 
my lords, if they have done so heinously, they are 
worthy of heinous punishment." " What," exclaimed 
Richard, " dost thou serve me with ifs and ands ? I 
tell thee they have done it, and that I will make good on 
thy body, traitor!" On this he struck his fist upon the 
council table with great force. Armed men rushed in, 
crying " Treason ! " Hastings and some others, includ- 
ing Morton, were arrested, and Lord Stanley had a blow 
aimed at his head with a pole-axe. Richard then bade 
Hastings instantly prepare for death, swearing by St. 
Paul that he would not dine till he had seen his head 



1483- Jane Shore. 215 

off. He accordingly made his confession to the first 
priest that could be found. A log of timber intended 
for some repairs in the Tower served the purpose of a 
block, and before noon his head was severed from his 
body. 

10. In what manner Jane Shore had incurred the 
Protector's displeasure it is difficult to understand. 
Richard accused her of witchcraft and of being an ac- 
complice of Hastings in a scheme for his destruction ; on 
which charges he sent her to prison and stripped her of 
almost all her property. After a time, however, he 
handed her over to the Bishop of London to inflict spirit- 
ual punishment upon her as an unchaste woman, and 
she was compelled to do open penance one Sunday, 
going through the streets in her kirtle with a taper in her 
hand. The exhibition, however, excited the compassion 
of the spectators, who looked upon her punishment as 
due only to malice and not to any real desire on Rich- 
ard's part to promote public morality. 

11. Three days before the execution of Hastings the 
Protector had written to the city of York, desiring a force 
to be sent up immediately to London to counteract the 
designs of the Queen Dowager and her friends, whom 
he accused of conspiring against him and Buckingham, 
and attempting the ruin of the old nobility. Some hasty 
levies arrived in consequence in the course of a week or 
ten days, and were mustered in Moorfields. Orders were 
also sent into the North for the execution of Rivers, 
Lord Richard Grey, and two other gentlemen who 
had been arrested in accompanying the King up to 
London. Meanwhile Richard persuaded the council 
that his nephew Richard Duke of York, who was with 
the Queen his mother in Sanctuary, should be sent for 
to take up his residence with the King his brother. A 



2i6 Edward V. ch. ix. 

deputation, headed by Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, was accordingly sent to the Queen, and 
she delivered the lad into their hands. A letter written 
a few days after says that he was received by Richard at 
the Star Chamber door "with many loving words." He 
Richard "^^^ conducted by the Cardinal to the Tower 

Duke of and was treated with all the honor that be- 

York de- 
livered to came his birth. But neither he nor the King 

his brother ever left the Tower again. 

12. On Sunday, June 22, the citizens of London were 
astonished by a sermon delivered at Paul's Cross, a little 
open-air pulpit which stood at the north-east corner of 
St. Paul's Churchyard. Here preachers of distinction 
often addressed the people on public questions ; but the 
boldness of the preacher on this occasion was quite un- 
precedented. He was a man of considerable reputation, 

Dr Shaw's ^^ name Dr. Shaw. His text was taken from 
sermon. the Book of Wisdom iv. 3 — " Bastard slips 

shall not take deep root," — and the whole line of his 
argument was to show that the children of King Edward 
IV. were illegitimate. From this it was inferred that the 
true right to the crown was in the person of Richard 
Duke of Gloucester, who, having arranged to be present 
during the discourse, was made the object of a special 
compliment. The people, however, listened in mute 
astonishment, and the preacher seems to have gained 
little credit for an act which was clearly that of a syco- 
phant. 

13. Nevertheless, on the Tuesday following, at a meet- 
ing of the common council of the city of London in the 

Guildhall, a message was received from the 

June 24. ^ 

Protector through the medium of the Duke 
of Buckingham and other lords, as to the claim advanced 
by him to the crown. Buckingham, who spoke with re- 



1483. Edward deposed. 217 

markable ability, entered into a statement from which 
he drew the conclusion that the title of the Duke of 
Gloucester was preferable to that of his nephew Edward. 
And although we are told by a city chronicler that the 
matter of his address was not so much admired as the 
eloquence with which it was delivered, the mayor and 
aldermen certainly proceeded to act upon the informa- 
tion thus given them. 

14. A Parliament had been summoned to meet on the 
following day, and it is certain that a meeting of lords 
and commons actually took place, though, owing to some 
informality it was not afterwards regarded as a true par- 
liament. In this assembly, however, the question of 
Richard's title was brought forward, and the facts were 
stated to be as follows. The marriage of Edward IV. 
with Elizabeth Woodville had been invalid from the 
first. Not only had it been brought about by sorcery and 
witchcraft (this was gravely alleged in an act of Parlia- 
ment!) but at the very time it took place Edward was 
under a precontract to marry a certain Lady Eleanor 
Talbot, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury and widow 
of Lord Butler ; and this according to the canon law 
made his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville void. More- 
over, the Duke of Clarence had been attainted by Par- 
liament, so that none of his children could inherit. Thus 
Richard was the only true heir of his father ^, 

The crown is 

Richard Duke of York, and of the crown offered to 
of England ; and he was desired by the 
lords spiritual and temporal and the commons then 
assembled to assume that to which he was so entitled. 

15. A deputation consisting of a number of the lords 
and some of the principal knights, joined by the mayor 
and aldermen and chief citizens of London, then waited 
on Richard at Baynard's Castle, the residence of his 



2i8 Richard III. CH. x. 

mother the Duchess of York, and presented the petition. 

Richard intimated his acceptance, and next morning, 
accompanied by a great number of the 
nobility, proceeded in state to Westminster 

Hall, and afterwards to the Abbey and St. Paul's. From 

that day he began to reign as king by the name of 

Richard III. 



CHAPTER X. 

RICHARD III. 

I. The Royal Progress — Murder of the Princes, 

I. From what has been already said it will be seen that 
the accession, or, as it is commonly called, the usurpa- 
tion of Richard HI.; was the result of a struggle between 
different parties among the nobility, in which the ablest 
and the most high-handed carried the day. Dislike of 
the Woodvilles was the one common bond by which the 
greater part of the nobles could be united ; and Richard, 
with his ally the Duke of Buckingham, made use of it 
for his own purposes. But though this feeling was strong 
Change of and general enough to give him a complete 
R?chfrd rfter^ victory ovcr his opponents, there was no 
M ^^l^' real sympathy between him and the greater 
Crown. part of those who for the moment supported 

him, and it was inevitable that when he had attained 
the crown, feelings of a different kind should begin to 
show themselves. And so we are told expressly by one 
writer of the time that as soon as he had become king 
he lost the hearts of his nobility, " insomuch that such as 
before loved and praised him and would have jeopardied 
life and goods with him if he had remained still as Pro- 



1 483 . Accession of Richard III. 2 1 9 

tector, now murmured and grudged against him in such 
wise that few or none favored his party, except it were 
for dread or for the great gifts that they received of him ; 
by mean whereof he wan divers to follow his mind, the 
which after deceived him." Yet, looking merely to the 
circumstances of his accession, Richard was not a usurper 
in the strict sense of the word. He did not seize, but 
was invited to assume, the crown : and the body by 
which he was invited so to do had all the weight and 
dignity of a regular parliament. 

2. His coronation, which was fixed for July 6, just ten 
days after his accession, was celebrated with peculiar 
magnificence, and preceded by a gorgeous jjjg corona- 
procession the day before, in which the *^°'^' J"^y ^• 
greater number of the nobility took part. At this time 
he made great professions that he would rule with clem- 
ency. A day or two before his coronation he entered 
the Court of King's Bench and sat down in the seat of 
the chief justice, from which he proclaimed a general 
amnesty for all offences against himself. In token of his 
sincerity he also sent for one Sir John Fogge, who had 
notoriously incurred his displeasure and taken refuge in 
a neighboring sanctuar>\ Fogge had been a member 
of his brother King Edward's council, and had filled the 
office of treasurer of the household during his reign. 
On being sent for he came out of sanctuary, and Rich- 
ard in the presence of all the people took him openly 
by the hand. 

3. To confirm the good impression which these and 
other acts were calculated to make upon his subjects, 
Richard then set out upon a progress jjg 
through the midland and northern counties. 2°^^ on a 

. progress. 

His course lay in the first place through 

Windsor, Reading, and Oxford, to Woodstock and Glou- 



220 Richard III. CH. x. 

cester. At Oxford he met with a magnificent reception, 
in which Bishop Waynflete, the founder of Magdalen 
College, took a leading part. At Gloucester the city- 
offered him a handsome present or "benevolence," un- 
solicited ; and the same was done at Worcester, which 
was the next place he visited. Both these gifts he de- 
clined, as he had already done a similar offer from the 
metropolis, declaring he would rather have the hearts of 
his subjects than their money. He went on to Warwick, 
where he received ambassadors from Ferdinand and 
Isabella of Spain ; and from thence by Coventry, Lei- 
cester, and Nottingham he went on to York, where the 
citizens had prepared for him a reception of more than 
ordinary splendor. It has been said that he was crowned 
a second time in this city ; but the truth seems to be 
merely that he and his queen, who had joined him at 
Warwick, with the Prince Edward their son, whom he 
that day created Prince of Wales, walked in a grand 
procession through the streets with crowns upon their 
heads. 

4. All this display tended to increase his popularity, 
especially in the North where he had been a long time 
resident before he became king. But in London and the 
southern counties people began to be uneasy about his 
conduct towards the young princes his nephews. It is 
true King Edward himself, out of a confidence which was 
certainly misplaced, had appointed Richard the guardian 
of his children after his death, but the mode in which 
he exercised his rights was exceedingly suspicious. The 
two young princes were never seen out of the Tower, 
and nobody appears to have known anything about 
them. Their five sisters remained with their mother in 
the Sanctuary at Westminster ; but Richard had caused 
the Sanctuary to be surrounded with a band of armed 



1483. Murder of the two Princes. 221 

men lest any of them should make their escape beyond 
sea. For it appears that plans had begun to be formed 
for carrying off one or more of them in disguise ; doubts 
being already entertained whether their two brothers 
would not be cut off by violence. 

5. At length it was announced that even the Duke of 
Buckingham, who had hitherto been so strong a partizan 
of Richard, was interested in behalf of the young princes, 
and would put himself at the head of a confederacy for 
their liberation from the Tower. But scarcely had this 
news got abroad when it was made known that the ob- 
ject of the proposed rising was hopeless, Murder of 
for the princes were no more. No one could ^^ t^° 

princes. 

tell how or when they had been put to 
death ; but that they had been murdered was the cur- 
rent rumor of the time, and it was not, for it could not 
be, contradicted. 

6. The circumstances of the crime seem, in fact, to 
have remained a secret for nearly twenty years ; but at 
length by the confession of some of the circumstances 
murderers they were found to be, briefly, as °f '^^ cnme. 
follows : — Some time after Richard had set out upon his 
progress he sent a messenger named John Green to Sir 
Robert Brackenbury, the Constable of the Tower, com- 
manding him to put his two young nephews to death. 
This order Brackenbury would not obey, and Green re- 
turned to his master at Warwick. Richard was greatly 
mortified, but sent one Sir James Tyrell to London with 
a warrant to Brackenbury to deliver up to him for one 
night all the keys of the Tower. Tyrell thus took the 
place into his keeping, and engaged the services of Miles 
Forest, one of those who kept the princes' chamber, and 
John Dighton, his own groom, to carry out the wishes of 
the tyrant. These men entered the chamber when the 



222 Richard III. ch. x. 

two unfortunate lads were asleep and smothered them 
under pillows ; then having called Sir James to see th& 
bodies, buried them at the foot of a staircase. Bracken- 
bury, it was supposed, caused them afterwards to be re- 
moved and buried secretly in some more suitable place ; 
but as he was dead long before the story got abroad, the 
place could never be ascertained. The fact, however, 
appears to have been that they were not removed at all ; 
for nearly two hundred years later, two skeletons cor- 
responding to the age of the murdered youths were 
found in the very position where they were said to have 
been originally buried — at the foot of a staircase in the 
Tower. 

7. Unscrupulous as Richard was, the remorse that 
overtook him after this dreadful crime appears to have 
Richard's been vcry terrible indeed. "I have heard," 

remorse. wrote Sir Thomas More, "by credible re- 

port of such as were secret with his chamberers, that 
after this abominable deed done he never had quiet in 
his mind; he never thought himself sure. When he 
went abroad his eyes whirled about, his body privily 
fenced, his hand ever on his dagger, his countenance 
and manner like one always ready to strike again. He 
took ill rest at night, lay long waking and musing ; sore 
wearied with care and watch, he rather slumbered than 
slept. Troubled with fearful dreams, suddenly some- 
times started he up, leaped out of his bed and ran about 
the chamber. So was his restless heart continually tossed 
and tumbled with the tedious impression and stormy 
remembrance of his most abominable deed." 

II. The Rebellion of Buckingham. 

I. The news of the murder excited throughout the 
country strong feelings of grief and indignation. But to 



1483* Earl of Richmond' s Pedigree. 



223 



in 
< 

< 

o 

O 



Q 
Q 




S o 3;« 









2 24 Richard III. CH. x. 

those implicated in the conspiracy for the hberation of 
the princes it was more especially alarming. A new 
object, however, was presently supplied to them. The 
male issue of Edward IV. being now extinct, a project 
„ . , was formed for marrying his eldest dausrhter 

Projected mar- ,. , , . ^ . ^ 

riageofPrin- Elizabeth to Henry, Earl of Richmond, a 

cess Elizabeth r • -r^ ■ .. i j j 

to Henry Earl refugee m Brittany, who was regarded as 
of Richmond. ^^ head of the deposed House of Lancas- 
ter ; and Buckingham wrote to the earl to cross the seas, 
while he and others in England should make an insur- 
rection in his favor. 

2. Now, it is true the direct male line of the House 
of Lancaster died with King Henry VI. ; but this Earl 
_ , of Richmond was descended from John of 

Descent the 

Earl r,f Rich- Gaunt through his mother Margaret Beau- 
fort in the manner shown in the subjoined 
pedigree. He was also, by the father's side, a nephew 
of Henry VI., but this relationship, it will be seen, gave 
him no claim to the crown. On the other hand, his 
claim through the Beauforts was a little doubtful, as 
John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, the first of the line, 
was born before the marriage of his father John of 
Gaunt with his mother Catherine Swynford. The Beau- 
forts, it is true, had been made legitimate by an Act of 
Parliament, but there was still some question whether 
they were not excluded from the crown. Richmond, 
however, was undoubtedly, after the death of Henry 
VI., the most direct representative of the line of John of 
Gaunt, and had been carried over to Brittany by his 
uncle the Earl of Pembroke, soon after the final over- 
throw of the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury. 

3. Now it will be seen that the Duke of Buckingham 
was also descended from the Beauforts, and it is said that 
owing to this fact he had thought at one time of laying 



1483. Rebellion of Buckingham. 225 

claim to the crown himself. It is also supposed that he 
had received a private disappointment from King Rich- 
ard which had done much to cool the -j-j^g Duke of 
friendship he had hitherto entertained to- Buckingham. 
wards him. But he was further greatly influenced by 
some conversations that he held with Morton Bishop of 
Ely, whom Richard had delivered to his custody after 
his accession ; and whom he kept as a prisoner at 
Brecknock. Morton very soon discovered his disaffec- 
tion towards King Richard, and led him gradually into 
the design of calling over the Earl of Richmond from 
Brittany and marrying him to the Princess Elizabeth. 
This project was communicated to the Countess of Rich- 
mond, the earl's mother, and to the Queen Dowager, by 
both of whom it was warmly approved. The Marquis 
of Dorset and others of the Woodville party arranged 
with Buckingham a number of simultaneous risings to 
take place on October 18 in the south and west of Eng- 
land ; and the Earl of Richmond was expected at the 
same time to land on the southern coast and lead the 
movement in person. 

4. On the day appointed, accordingly, the partisians 
of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, took up arms under 
different leaders in Kent, in Berkshire, at ^ , , ^ 

' ' Outbreak of 

Salisbury, and at Exeter. The Duke of the Rebellion, 
Buckingham also took the field that day at 
Brecknock. The King seems to have been nearly taken 
by surprise, but the news of the intended outbreak had 
reached him, a week before it took place, at Lincoln. 
He wrote in great haste to his chancellor to bring or send 
immediately the Great Seal in order that he might make 
out commissions of array. Hastening southwards he 
received it at Grantham on the 19th. Commissions were 
immediately sent out to levy troops in the King's name, 

Q 



226 Richard III. ch. x. 

and a singular proclamation was issued on the 23d, en- 
deavoring to excite public indignation against his oppo- 
nents as men of immoral lives who, despising the gene- 
ral pardon issued by the King for political offences, 
were leagued together for the maintenance of vice and 
the indulgence of unlawful pleasures. The Marquis of 
Dorset, it seems, had, since the death of Hastings, taken 
Jane Shore into his keeping, and according to this pro- 
clamation had been guilty of many other acts of immo- 
rality. 

5. Great rewards were offered by this proclamation 
for the capture of Buckingham, Dorset, and the Bishops 
of Ely and Salisbury ; for Bishop Morton, it should be 
mentioned, after his conversations with Buckingham, 
had contrived to make his escape from Brecknock into 
the Isle of Ely, and soon after got beyond sea. The 
Bishop of Salisbury was a brother of Queen Elizabeth 
Woodville. One thousand pounds in money, or an 
estate in land worth one hundred pounds a year, was the 
price set upon the head of Buckingham. Such an 
amount was probably equal in value to about twelve 
thousand pounds in modern money, or twelve hundred 
pounds a year in land. For the others the sums offered 
were not quite so large. Buckingham had boasted that 
he had as many liveries of the Stafford knot as Warwick 
the King-maker had of his cognisance, the bear and 
ragged staff. But however numerous the forces he 
could bring into the field, he was utterly unable to make 
use of them. Two gentlemen named Thomas Vaughan 
and Humphrey Stafford watched the roads about Breck- 
nock to prevent his leaving Wales, and destroyed all 
the bridges across the Severn. Heavy rains then 
swelled the rivers and made a passage utterly impracti- 
cable. A great part of the land was flooded, provisions 



1484- Second Invasion of Richmond. 227 

were not to be obtained, and the men of Buckingham 
disbanded. The duke himself retired into Shropshire and 
took refuge with one of his retainers named Buckin h m 
Ralph Banaster, who, tempted by the great betrayed, 
reward offered for his apprehension, delivered him up 
to the sheriff of the county. 

6. Richard, meanwhile, had been collecting forces 
and advancing towards the west of England. Bucking- 
ham on his capture was brought to him at Salisbury, 
and the King gave orders for his instant and executed, 
execution . Richard acted wisely in refu- ^'^^- '^• 
sing him an interview, for which he made urgent re- 
quest ; for it seems to have been well known afterwards 
that he intended to have stabbed him to the heart. 

7. The capture and death of Buckingham completely 
put an end to the rebellion. Dorset and some of the 
other leaders at once abandoned all hope coUapseof 
of resistance and fled to Brittany. A few the rebellion. 
others were taken and executed — among the rest Sir 
Thomas St. Leger, who had married the Duchess of Exe- 
ter, the King's sister ; but the common people were 
spared. The Earl of Richmond set sail from Brittany 
but met with a storm in mid-channel which dispersed 
his ships ; and though his own vessel neared the coast 
at Poole and at Plymouth, he could obtain no satisfac- 
tory assurance of a friendly reception on landing. He 
therefore hoisted sail and recrossed the sea. 

III. Second Invasion of Richmond — Richard's Over- 
throw and Death. 

I. Thus Richard had obtained an almost bloodless 
triumph. He passed on to Exeter, where he received 
the congratulations of the citizens, and a purse of 200 
gold nobles was presented to him. In the January fol' 



228 Richard III. ch. x. 

lowing a Parliament met at Westminster 

A. D. 1484. . ° 

Richard's which Confirmed his title to the crown and 

in ParHa-'^ passed an act of attainder against the Earl 
"^^"'^" of Richmond and his adherents. Upwards 

of ninety persons were by this act branded as traitors 
and deprived of all their lands and honors ; but the 
Countess of Richmond, Henry's mother, who had been 
the chief organizer of the whole rebellion, was treated 
with leniency out of consideration for her husband, Lord 
Stanley. Her lands were given to her husband for life, 
and he undertook to be responsible for her conduct in 
the future. Another act of this Parliament was to 
abolish the oppressive kind of taxation introduced by 
Edward IV. under the name of benevolences, which 
though they were professedly free-will offerings, had 
been really exacted under so much pressure as to re- 
duce many persons from affluence to poverty. 

2. Before the Parliament separated the lords all took 
an oath of allegiance, not only to Richard as king, but 
to his son Edward Prince of Wales as heir-apparent, to 
whom they promised fealty after Richard's death. But 
within a few weeks the young prince died after a brief 
illness, and Richard was childless. As the children of 
Edward IV. had been declared illegitimate and those of 
the Duke of Clarence could not inherit by reason of their 
father's attainder, Richard then recognized as his heir John 
De la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, son of the Duke of Suffolk. 

3. Meanwhile, the Earl of Richmond was busy pre- 
paring for a second attempt at invasion. On Christmas 
^ , Day he had held a meeting with his princi- 

Richmond and , ,, . >. i t 1 1 

his followers pal adherents m Rennes Cathedral, where 
m nttany. ^^ took oath to marry the Princess Eliza- 
beth as soon as he should obtain possession of the 
crown. Richard made application to the Duke of Brit- 



1485. The Queen Dowager and Richard III. 229 

tany to deliver him up into his hands ; but the earl, 
having received warning, escaped into the dominions 
of Charles VIII., the new King of France, who had just 
succeeded his father Louis XI., where he was soon re- 
joined by about 300 of his followers. Richard, however, 
endeavored to defeat his designs in another 
way. He summoned a council of the lords 
spiritual and temporal, then in London, together with 
the lord mayor and aldermen of the city, , 

1 • 1 • n -r / March I. 

and took oath m their presence that if the 
five daughters of " Dame Elizabeth Grey " (meaning by 
that name the Queen Dowager, whom he no longer recog- 
nized as such) would come out of sanctuary and place 
themselves under his protection, he would not only as- 
sure them of life and liberty, but provide them with hus- 
bands as they came of age, and give each of them a mar- 
riage portion of the value of 200 marks a ^, ^ 

° ^ , The Queen 

year. He also engaged to allow Elizabeth Dowager and 

■% -ic • r 1 r lier daughters 

herseli a pension of 700 marks a year tor leave sane- 
life. This offer the Queen Dowager and '"^^' 
her daughters thought it well to accept, and accordingly 
came out of sanctuary. 

4. It seems extraordinary that after the murder of her 
two sons the Queen Dowager should ever have been in- 
duced to repose the slightest confidence in Richard; 
and yet there appears to be no doubt of the fact that 
some time after this she was nearly won over by his 
blandishments to break off her compact with Henry, 
whose cause she probably considered hopeless. She 
wrote to her son the Marquis of Dorset in France to 
withdraw himself from the Earl of Richmond's com- 
pany; and Dorset had in consequence secretly left 
Paris, where the earl was then staying, and was hasten- 
ing towards Flanders on his way to England, when the 



230 Richard III. ch. x. 

French king's council, at the earl's urgent request, 
caused his flight to be arrested. It is even asserted that 
Richard attained such favor with the Queen Dowager, 
that in order to prevent her daughter's marriage with 
the Earl of Richmond he proposed, in the expectation 
of his own queen's death, to marry her himself; and 
this project, as the chronicles relate, was actually ap- 
proved by the mother, although very abhorrent to the 
feelings of the princess herself. Such a story seems al- 
most too monstrous to be believed. Perhaps the truth 
^ ^ ^ g may be that immediately after his queen's 
death Richard did make some advances of 
he kind, which even under these circumstances were 
Richard disgraceful enough ; and the indignation 
disavows an they aroused may have caused the story to 

intention to i ^ • • . i t 

marry his be exaggerated. Certam it is that the King 
felt it necessary to make a public disavowal 
of the intention within a very few weeks after his wife's 
death. 

5. But whatever arts Richard used — cajolery, pro- 
mises, bribes, or threats — to turn enemies into friends or 
to defeat the plans of his opponents, they never were 
successful except partially and for a time. Sir Thomas 
More, a great wit and genius, who in those days was a 
child, but afterwards wrote a life of King Richard from 
the information of persons then living, says of him that 
"with large gifts he got him unsteadfast friendship, for 
which he was fain to pill and spoil in other places and 
get him steadfast hatred." Before his brief reign came 
to an end he found himself obliged to replenish his 
„ . empty exchequer by having recourse once 

money by more to thosc detested benevolences which 

benevolences. . ,, .,. tit , ^ t 1 

he had promised m Parliament should 
never again be levied. Such measures, of course, made 



1485. Second Invasion of Richmond, 231 

him more than ever unpopular at home, while the pre- 
parations of the Earl of Richmond abroad continually 
gave him more anxiety. The Earl of Oxford, who had 
given much trouble to his brother Edward IV., had been 
committed to the custody of Sir James Blount, governor 
of Hammes Castle, near Calais, brother of the Lord 
Mountjoy. Sir James released his prisoner, and both 
offered their services to the Earl of Richmond. The 
castle of Hammes was afterwards recovered into the 
King's hands, but only on condition that the garrison 
should be allowed to depart with bag and baggage. 

6. By repeated proclamations Richard called upon 
his subjects to resist the intended invasion of Richmond 
with all their force. He denounced the earl and his fol- 
lowers as men who had forsaken their true allegiance and 
put themselves in subjection to the French king. He 
pointed out that owing to the illegitimacy of the Beauforts 
Henry could have no claim to the crown, and that even 
on the father's side he was come of bastard blood. He 
declared that he had bargained to give up for ever all 
claims hitherto made by the kings of England either to 
the crown of France, the duchy of Normandy, Gascony, 
or even Calais. Richmond, however, had sent messages 
into England by which he was assured of a considerable 
amount of support ; and he borrowed money 

r 1 Tx- r T- . 1 1 • , 1 ^ \ Richmond 

from the Kmg of France with which he fitted embarks for 
out a small fleet at Harfleur and embarked ^' 
for Wales, where his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pem- 
broke, possessed great influence. 

7. Richard, knowing of the intended invasion, but 
being uncertain where his enemy might land, had taken 
up his position in the centre of the kingdom. Following 
a plan first put in use by his brother Edward during the 
Scotch war, he had stationed messengers at intervals of 



232 Richard IIL CH. x. 

and lands twenty miles along all the principal roads to 

Haven, the coast to bring him early intelligence. 

"^' ^* But Henry landed at Milford Haven at the 

farthest extremity of South Wales, where, perhaps, 
Richard had least expected him ; and so small was the 
force by which he was accompanied that the news did 
not at first give the King very much anxiety. He pro- 
fessed great satisfaction that his adversary was now com- 
ing to bring matters to the test of battle. The earl, 
however, was among friends from the moment he landed. 
Pembroke was his native town, and the inhabitants ex- 
pressed their wiliingness to serve his uncle, the Earl of 
Pembroke, as their natural and immediate lord. The 
very men whom Richard had placed to keep the coun- 
try against him at once joined his party, and he passed 
on to Shrewsbury with little or no opposition. 

8. The King's " unsteadfast friendships " on the other 
hand were now rapidly working his ruin. His own at- 
Ricliard tomcy general, Morgan Kidwelly, had been 

by his ^ ill communication with the enemy before he 

friends. landed. Richard, however, was very natu- 

rally suspicious of Lord Stanley, his rival's stepfather, 
who though he was steward of the royal household, had 
asked leave shortly before the invasion to go home and 
visit his family in Lancashire. This the King granted 
only on condition that he would send his son, George 
Lord Strange, to him at Nottingham in his place. Lord 
Strange was accordingly sent to the King ; but when the 
news arrived of Henry's landing, Richard desired the 
presence of his father also. Stanley pretended illness, 
an excuse which could not fail to increase the King's 
suspicions. His son at the same time made an attempt 
to escape, and being captured confessed that he himself 
and his uncle Sir William Stanley had formed a project 



1485. The Battle of Bosworth, 233 

with others to go over to the enemy : but he protested 
his father's innocence and assured the King that he 
would obey the summons. He was made to understand 
that his own hfe depended on his doing so, and he wrot 
a letter to his father accordingly. 

9. Richard having mustered his followers at Notting- 
ham went on to Leicester to meet his antagonist, and 
encamped at Bosworth on the night of August 21. The 
Earl of Richmond had arrived near the same place with 
an army of 5,000 men, which is supposed to have been 
not more than half that of the King. That day, how- 
ever. Lord Stanley had come to the earl secretly at 
Atherstone to assure him of his support in the coming 
battle. He and his brother Sir'William were each at 
the head of a force not far off, and were only tempori- 
zing to save the life of his son Lord Strange. This in- 
formation relieved Henry's mind of much anxiety, for at 
various times since he landed he had felt serious mis- 
givings about the success of the enterprise. The issue 
was now to be decided on the following day. 

10. Early in the morning both parties prepared for 
the battle. Richard arose before daybreak, much agi^ 
tated, it is said, by dreadful dreams that . 

^ ^ . Aug. 22. 

had haunted his imagination in the night 
time. But he entered the field wearing his crown upon 
his head, and encouraged his troops with an eloquent 
harangue. There was, however, treason in his camp, 
and many of his followers were only seeking an oppor- 
tunity to desert and take part with the enemy. A warn- 
ing indeed had been conveyed by an unknown hand 
to his foremost supporter, the Duke of Norfolk, in the 
following rhyme, which was discovered the night before, 
written on the door of his tent : — 



234 Richard III, ch. x. 

" Jack of Norfolk, be not too bold, 
For Dickon, thy master, is bought and sold." 

11. Lord Stanley, who had drawn up his men at about 
equal distance from both armies, received messages early 
in the morning from both leaders, desiring his immediate 
assistance. His policy, however, was to stand aloof to 
the very last moment, and he replied in each case that 
he would come at a convenient opportunity. Dissatis- 
fied with this answer, Richard ordered his son to be 
beheaded, but was persuaded to suspend the execution 
of the order till the day should be decided. 

12. After a discharge of arrows on both sides the 
armies soon came to a hand-to-hand encounter. Lord 

Stanley joined the earl in the midst of the 
of Bos- engagement, and the earl of Northumber- 

^°^ ■ land, on whose support Richard had 'relied, 

stood still with all his followers and looked on. The 
day was going hard against the King. Norfolk fell in 
the thickest of the fight, and his son the Earl of Surrey, 
after fighting with great valor, was surrounded and 
taken prisoner. Richard endeavored to single out 'his 
adversary, whose position on the field was pointed out 
to him. He suddenly rushed upon Henry's body-guard 
and unhorsed successively two of his attendants, one of 
whom, the earl's standard-bearer, fell dead to the ground. 
The earl himself was in great danger but that Sir Wil- 
liam Stanley who had hitherto abstained from joining 
the combat, now endeavored to surround the King with 
his force of 3,000 men. Richard perceived that he was 
Death of betrayed, and crying out "Treason! Trea- 

Richard. son!" endeavored only to sell his life as 

dearly as possible. Overpowered by numbers he fell 
dead in the midst of his enemies. 

13. The battered crown that had fallen from Richard's 



1485. End of the Civil War. 235 

head was picked up upon the field of battle and Sir 
William Stanley placed it upon the head „ , 

•' . ^ ^ . Henry crowned 

of the conqueror, who was saluted as king upon the 
by his whole army. The body of Richard 
on the other hand was treated with a degree of in- 
dignity which expressed but too plainly the disgust ex- 
cited in the minds of the people by his inhuman tyranny. 
It was stripped naked and thrown upon a horse, a halter 
being placed round the neck, and in that fashion carried 
into Leicester, where it was buried with little honor in 
the Grey Friars' church. 

14. Such was the end of the last Kmg of England of 
the line of the Plantagenets. In warlike qualities he 
was not inferior to the best of his predecessors, but his 
rule was such as alienated the hearts of the greater part 
of his subjects, and caused him to be remembered as a 
monster. In person, too, he is represented to have been 
deformed, with the right shoulder higher than the left ; 
and he is traditionally regarded as a hunchback. But 
It may be that even his bodily defects were exaggerated 
after he was gone. Stories got abroad that he was born 
with teeth, and hair coming down to the shoulders, and 
that his birth was attended by other circumstances alto- 
gether repugnant to the order of nature. One fact that 
can hardly be a mis-statement is that he was small of 
stature — which makes it all the more remarkable that 
in this last battle he overthrew in personal encounter 
a man of great size and strength named Sir John 
Cheyney. He was, in fact, a great soldier-king, in whom 
alike the valor and the violence of his race had been 
matured and brought to a climax by civil wars and 
private dissensions. 

15. It was inevitable that kings of this sort should 
give place to kings of a different stamp. His rival 



236 General View of European History, CH. xi. 

Henry, henceforth King Henry VII., inaugurated a 
new era, in which prudence and policy were made 
to serve the interests of peace, and secure the throne, 
even with a doubtful title, against the convulsions to 
which it had been hitherto exposed. By his marriage 
with the Princess Elizabeth he was considered to have 
at length united the Houses of York and Lancaster, and 
he left to his son Henry VIII. , who succeeded him, a 
title almost as free from dispute or cavil as that of any 
king in more recent times. 

16. The civil wars, in fact, had worked themselves 
out. The too powerful nobility had destroyed each other 
in these internecine struggles; and as the lords of 
each party were attainted by turns, their great estates 
were confiscated and passed into the hands of the 
crown. This gave the Tudor sovereigns an advantage 
that they knew well how to use. Watchful and sus- 
picious of their nobility, they understood, as few other 
sovereigns did, the value of property; and under 
Henry VIII. the English monarchy attained a power 
and absolutism unparalleled before or since. 



CHAPTER XI. 

GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. 

I. The civil wars in England of which we have now 
related the history are commonly called the Wars of 
Wars of the Roses, from the fact that the House of 

the Roses. Lancaster assumed a red rose for its badge, 

and the House of York a white rose. Shakspeare, who 
has preserved in his plays a number of historical tradi- 
tions the authority of which we cannot always verify, 
represents in one interesting scene at the beginning of 



Decay of Feudalism. 237 

the struggle the lords of both parties meeting in the 
Temple Gardens, and each plucking a rose, red or white, 
to indicate his attachment to the Duke of Somerset or 
York. Whether such a scene actually took place and 
gave rise to those party badges it is impossible to say ; 
but there is no doubt that the Yorkists were known as 
the party of the White Rose, and their opponents as 
that of the Red. When at length Henry VII., the 
representative of the House of Lancaster, attained the 
crown and married the daughter of Edward IV., the 
marriage was spoken of as the union of the Roses. 

2. This union was the first step in England towards 
that strengthening of the powers of the crown which 
was now absolutely necessary for the restoration of 
order. Since the days of Edward HI., all authority had 
been weak because the sovereign power itself was weak. 
It was the weakness of despotic caprice in Richard II., 
of usurpation and civil war under the House of Lan- 
caster, and of internal division in the House of York; 
and all these causes combined to make the fifteenth 
century a period of violence and disorder 

, . . , ^^ , Under the 

approachmg at times to anarchy. Under Tudors 
the steady rule of the Tudors England re- recovers 
covered from this confusion : the claims of ^'■°P ^^^" 

' order. 

the two rival houses were blended, the tur- 
bulent nobility were kept in strict subjection, law was 
administered with generally an impartial hand, peace 
was for the most part cherished, and commerce was 
protected. Disencumbered of the rule of any French 
territory except Calais, the English grew strong at home 
and became a nation compact and united under a race 
of sovereigns who were powerful enough to throw off 
the spiritual dominion of Rome, and to take a leading 
position among the potentates of Europe. 



238 General View of European History. ch. xi. 

3. But that which occurred in England occurred in 
other countries also. What are called the Middle Ages 
came to an end with the fifteenth century — a time of 
universal disorder, in the midst of which, however, a 
new order was gradually forming itself and gathering 
strength. The decay of feudalism, in fact, paved the 
Great ^^^ ^'^^ ^^ reorganization of Europe. 
kingdoms Great kingdoms sprang up where formerly 

forming in . *^ . . 

Europe. had existed a number of principalities held 

only in nominal subjection to a feudal sovereign, or 
where, as in England, a too powerful nobility had almost 
made themselves independent of the crown. France 
first emerged from the confusion ; afterwards Spain and 
England. By the end of the fifteenth century the na- 
tions of western Europe had settled down into nearly the 
same relative positions and occupied nearly the same 
territory that they have since retained. 

4. The connection between English and Continental 
history during this period is a subject which has not 
been altogether lost sight of in the preceding pages. 
But some general remarks on the progress of European 
nations may be desirable before we bring this work to a 
conclusion. 

5. There is at once a parallelism and a contrast during 
this period between the career of England and that of 

France. At no time were the fortunes of 
conrTection ^^^ ^wo natious morc closely linked together. 
tetween ^hc vcry samc events form, during a con- 

and French sidcrablc part of the fifteenth century, the 

leading features in the history of both. But 
the same events have in either case an opposite signifi- 
cance. The triumph of the one country was the abase- 
ment of the other, and the recovery of the second was 
accompanied by the demoralization of the first. There 



Decay of Feudalism, 239 

is, moreover, quite an extraordinary amount of coinci- 
dence, and at the same time contrast, between the cir- 
cumstances by which the contemporary kings of England 
and of France were surrounded during the whole period 
of our narrative. The reign of Charles VL, who came 
to the throne just three years after Richard II., corre- 
sponds to those of three successive kings in England. 
At his accession he and Richard were both under age ; 
but Charles led his armies in person when he was four- 
teen, while Richard, though not deficient in courage, 
seldom asserted himself in any way except at a crisis like 
Wat Tyler's rebellion. The complaint in Richard's case 
was that he allowed himself to be governed by favorites ; 
which was perfectly true at those times when he was not 
coerced by his uncles. Towards the end of his reign, 
however, Richard, weary of his long subjection, laid 
claim to absolute power ; while Charles about the same 
time became deranged and was obliged to surrender the 
government to his uncles. After this the French court 
became divided by factions which left the kingdom an 
easy prey to the invader ; and the same king who, when 
a boy, had alarmed all England by the fleet he had col- 
lected at Sluys, was obliged in his latter days to make 
an English king his heir and invest him with all the 
powers of royalty to the exclusion of his own son. 

6. But the parallelism of which we have spoken is 
more striking after the death of Charles VI., when by a 
singular coincidence the reigns of the English and French 
sovereigns correspond during three successions exactly 
to a year, with circumstances either so much alike, or so 
contrasted, that they may be shown in parallel columns 
as follows : — 



240 General View of European History. ch. xi. 

France. England. 

A. D. 1422. Charles VII. sue- \ Henry VI. succeeds his father 
ceeds his father Charles \ Henry V. 

VI., and J 

France loses an imbecile England loses a strong king 

king and gets a stronger, who and gets an infant who exhibits 
displays great abilities as a no capacity for government 
ruler. In his time — even when he grows up. In his 

time — 

France recovers Normandy and Guienne, and deprives England 
of all her French dominions, except Calais. 



-l 



A. D, 1461. Louis XI. succeeds ") Edward IV. deposes Henry VI. 
his father Charles VII. 
and 

A politic king consolidates A military king displaces 

the French monarchy, notwith- one too weak to rule, but holds 

standing powerful combinations the throne insecurely, and is 

against him. temporarily displaced himself. 



A. D. 1483. Charles VIII. sue- -v Edward V. succeeds his father 

ceedshis father Louis XI., I Edward IV. 

and J 

A minority ; but France being A minority ; but it does not 

now settled the consolidation of last three months. Richard III. 

her dominions is completed in a usurps the crown ; but even his 

few years by the annexation of reign of tyranny and violence 

Brittany. only lasts two years, and 

Henry VII., who succeeds him, 
is for a long time troubled with 
rebellions. 

7. Of all the great feudal lords of France the Dukes of 
Burgundy were by far the most pov^erful. The duchy 
itself was one of the richest parts of France, but the 
Dukes also possessed Franche Comte — "the Free 
County " of Burgundy, which they held of the Empire 



England and France. 241 

and not of the French crown ; and to these possessions 
had been added, ever since 1384, some of the most 
flourishing provinces of the Netherlands, which were 
acquired by Duke Phihp the Bold in right of his wife, 
Margaret, daughter of the Count of Flanders. These 
provinces, full of populous towns such as Ghent, Bruges, 
and Antwerp, seats of the largest commerce and manu- 
factures in the world, were likewise held of the empire. 
Hence the Dukes of Burgundy became so exceedingly 
powerful, that instead of being subject to the kings of 
France, they at times held those kings in practical sub- 
jection to themselves. But after the death of Charles the 
Bold, Louis XI. seized upon the Duchy and even the 
Franche Comte, which he succeeded in uniting to the 
French crown. The rest of the dominions of the House 
of Burgundy were conveyed to the Archduke Maximilian, 
son of the Emperor Frederic III. by his marriage with 
Charles the Bold's daughter; so that the Netherlands 
came into the possession of the House of Austria, an am- 
bitious and grasping family, in whom the empire itself 
ultimately became hereditary, and with it under Charles 
v., in the sixteenth century, was joined the sovereignty 
of Spain. 

8. The Spanish peninsula at the beginning of the fif- 
teenth century was divided into the four Christian king- 
doms of Castile, Arragon, Navarre, and Portugal, besides 
the Moorish kingdom of Granada. The dif- ^ . , 

J. ^ . Spam becomes 

terentkmgs had wars among each Other, and by degrees a 
sometimes disputes with regard to the sue- dim^.^ '"^" 
cession at home. But in 1458, John II., King of Na- 
varre, succeeded to the crown of Arragon, and on his 
death in 1479 ^^ was succeeded by his son Ferdinand, 
who with his wife Isabella, the heiress of Castile, had 
already been proclaimed joint sovereign of that country. 

R 



242 General View of European History, ch. xi. 

In this manner, the three Christian kingdoms of Spain 
would have been united; but after the death of King 
John, Navarre became again a separate kingdom, and 
owing to French interest was kept so for another century. 
Ferdinand and Isabella, however, united Arragon and 
Castile, turned their arms against the Moors, conquered 
Granada, and became masters of nearly the whole penin-- 
sula except Portugal. That country, which has maintained 
its independence to this day, became great in another way 
— by maritime expeditions. Alfonso V. made 

Maritime en- ^ 

terprise of Por- several desccnts upon the coast of Africa, 
"^^ ' conquered Ceuta, Tangier, and other places. 

Portuguese enterprise discovered the island of Madeira 
in the beginning of the fifteenth century, and afterwards 
the Azores ; then gradually explored the western coast 
of Africa by Cape Bojador and Cape Verd, until, in 1497. 
Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope and 
made his way to India. The discovery of the New 
World by Columbus in 1492 was unquestionably stimu- 
lated by the knowledge of what the Portuguese had done 
before him. 

9. But while the western kingdoms all passed through 
a period of weakness and became stronger, the states 
situated in the centre of Europe remained in the old con- 
fusion, and in the East Christianity was actually receding 
Divided state hcfore the armics of the Turk. Italy was 
of Italy. parcelled out into small states. In the north 

there was the dukedom of Milan and the republics of 
Venice, Genoa, and Florence, besides some minor prin- 
cipalities. In the centre were the States of the Church, 
of which the Pope was sovereign. In the south were the 
two separate kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. The prin- 
cipalities in the north belonged to the empire, the centre 
of Italy was governed by the Church, the south was a 



Spain and Italy. 243 

bone of contention between foreign princes. Milan was 
erected into a dukedom by the Emperor 
Wenceslaus in 1395. It had long been 
under the dominion of the Visconti, who then became 
its dukes — a family noted for deeds of violence and 
cruelty. But on the death of Philip Maria Visconti in 
1445 the dukedom was claimed by his son-in-law Fran- 
cesco Sforza, who, after some fighting obtained it, and 
became the head of another line. This Francesco, who 
was the most noted soldier of his day, had fought by 
turns in the service of Visconti, the Pope, and the Vene- 
tians, and, generally speaking, had taken part in all the 
Italian wars of his time, sometimes on one side and 
sometimes on the opposite. He had fought against Pope 
Eugenius IV. in the name of the Council of Bale till the 
prudent pontiff turned him into a friend by making him 
gonfalonier, or standard-bearer of the Church. He had 
been out of favor with the Duke of Milan, but the duke 
found the need of his assistance, appointed him captain- 
general of his army, and gave him his daughter in mar- 
riage. After the duke's death the Milanese wished to 
form themselves into a republic like several of the neigh- 
boring states ; but Sforza formed a league with his old 
enemies the Venetians, laid siege to the city, and forced 
it to surrender for fear of starvation. He was then pro- 
claimed duke, and his alliance was sought, not only by 
the princes of Italy, but by Louis XI. of France and by 
the King of Arragon. His sons and grandsons were 
dukes after him, but scarcely sustained his greatness, 
and in the last year of the century the Duke Ludovico 
Maria Sforza was taken prisoner and his duchy seized 
by Louis XII. of France. 

10. In Naples, as we have seen, the House of Anjou 
disputed the throne for some time with the family of 



244 General View of European History. CH. xi. 

Durazzo. Afterwards the Kings of Arragon, 
^^P^**"' who ruled in Sicily, laid claim to Naples 

also, and the House of Anjou was unable to vindicate 
its pretensions against them. King Rene at first attempt- 
ed to make good his claims, but was soon driven out and 
left with a barren title. A bastard branch of the royal 
family of Arragon then for some time succeeded, but in 
the end this kingdom, as well as Sicily, came into the 
hands of Ferdinand the Catholic. Thus ultimately the 
greater part of Italy fell under the power either of France 
or Spain, and so it continued for a long time afterwards. 

11. The two maritime republics of Genoa and Venice 
did little to avert this result. The former, a prey to civil 

dissensions, submitted, in the end of the 
fourteenth century, to France, and never 
completely regained its independence till 1528. Its ter- 
ritory on the mainland was but a narrow fringe along the 
coast, but it possessed the land of Corsica, and in the 
Grecian Archipelago the island of Scio. It had also made 
Cyprus tributary and colonized the Crimea and other set- 
tlements on the Black Sea. But the fall of Constantino- 
ple in 1453, which the Genoese, of all European powers, 
made the greatest efforts to prevent, deprived them of 
their colonies on the Black Sea and thereby crippled 
their commerce. Their rivals the Venetians 
^^^^^^' also suffered from the advance of the Turks 

in Greece and on the shores of the Adriatic. Venice, 
however, did not succumb, as Genoa did, to any other 
great European power, and she was so formidable in the 
year 1508 that France, Spain, and Germany combined 
together in the league of Cambray to humble her. 

12. Of the history of the Popes we have already said 

so much that a very few words may suffice to 
The Popes, ^^^^p^^^^ -^^ ^^ ^^^^ Seen how even after 



Italy. 245 

the papal see was brought back from Avignon to Rome 
the French party were strong enough to maintain a series 
of Antipopes at Avignon until the schism was terminated 
by the proceedings of the Council of Constance. But 
factions prevailed at Rome, and Pope Eugenius IV. took 
part with the Orsini family against the Colonnas. He 
also came into collision with the Council of Bale, which 
was assembled in 1431 to promote a union of the Greek 
Church with the Roman. Eugenius sought to dissolve 
this council, but the council, maintaining the principle 
asserted by the previous council of Constance, declared 
itself superior to the Pope and ultimately deposed him 
and set up Amadeus Duke of Savoy in his place as 
Pope Felix V. Eugenius, however, convoked another 
council at Ferrara, which he afterwards removed to Flo- 
rence, and therein pronounced the council of Bale he- 
retical and the Antipope Felix a schismatic. Felix, in- 
deed, was only recognized in Hungary and a few of the 
minor European states, and after the death of Eugenius 
he was persuaded to resign. After this there is little that 
is remarkable in the history of the papacy for some time, 
except that in 14.58 a great scholar and traveller, ^neas 
Sylvius Piccolomini, was made Pope by the name of 
Pius II., who, like all the other popes of this period made 
great but ineffectual efforts to unite Europe against the 
Turks. The princes of Europe were engrossed with their 
own affairs, and the authority of the Holy See was no 
longer what it had been before the popes took up their 
abode at Avignon. 

13. We have already spoken of the conquests of the 
Sultan Bajazet, of the great battle of Nicopolis in which 
he defeated the flower of European chivalry, q., rp , 
and of his final overthrow by Timour the 
Tartar. This saved for a while from extinction the old 



246 General View of European History. ch. xi. 

Eastern Empire, which had continued from the days of 
Constantine, and Solyman I., the son of Bajazet, re- 
covered the greater part of Asia from Tamerlane by 
ceding to the Emperor Manuel the conquests of his 
father in Europe. But his successors renewed their 
aggressions on Christendom, which would have been 
still more effective but for family quarrels among the 
Ottoman princes themselves. The armies of Amurath 
II. were defeated when they invaded Hungary by Jo- 
hannes Gorvinus Hunniades, Waywode of Transylvania. 
The Prince of Albania at the same time threw off the 
yoke and succeeded in maintaining for three and twenty 
years the independence of his country. The name of 
this prince was George Castriot, but he is better known 
in history by that of Scanderbeg — meaning in Turk- 
ish the Great Alexander — which was given him in 
compliment to his military genius. He certainly did not 
a little while he lived to divert the forces of the Turk 
from Europe generally. Yet in the year 1453 Mahomet 
II. took by assault Constantinople, and the Eastern Em- 
pire came to an end. In a few years more he took 
Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, and conquered the Morea. 
Finally, after the death of Scanderbeg he made himself 
master of Albania and Negropont, invaded Croatia, and 
sent a fleet across the Adriatic which surprised Otranto. 
Italy and Europe generally heard of his doings with 
terror. 

14. Of all European kingdoms Hungary was most 
exposed to this invader, and Hungary had not unfre- 
quently troubles of its own, in the nature of the disputed 
Hungary and succession, to encourage his audacity. The 
Bohemia. crowns of Hungary and of Bohemia were 

united with the Empire of Germany under Sigismund, 
of whose contests both with the Turks and with the Huss- 



The Turks. 247 

ites we have already spoken ; but a party in each of 
these countries sought rather to promote a union with 
Poland, After the death of Sigismund, Albert of Aus- 
tria, who had married his daughter Elizabeth, succeeded 
to the throne of both kingdoms and became emperor as 
well ; but he died within two years. At the moment of 
his death he was without an heir, but his queen, Eliza- 
beth, was with child and gave birth to a son who was 
called Ladislaus the Posthumous, and succeeded to the 
throne of Bohemia. The Hungarians, however, offered 
their crown to another Ladislaus, the King of Poland, 
with whom Elizabeth, so long as she lived, in vain at- 
tempted to dispute the succession on her son's behalf. 
Under this Polish King and the brave general John 
Hunniades, the Hungarians succeeded for some time in 
repelling the Turks ; but being incited by the Pope to 
violate a truce with the enemy, the King met with a 
great defeat, and perished in battle near Varna. After 
his death Hunniades was made Regent for Ladislaus the 
Posthumous, who was still a minor, and invaded the do- 
minions of the Emperor Frederic HI. to make him de- 
liver up the young prince, who had been placed under 
his protection. Young Ladislaus was restored, but those 
by whom he was surrounded caused Hunniades to be 
dismissed from the regency, and some years after 
goaded the hero's sons into a conspiracy which cost the 
eldest his life. The people, however, were indignant, 
and on the death of Ladislaus raised Mathias Corvinus, 
the second son of Hunniades, to the throne. Like his 
father he was a brave warrior, and he regained from the 
Turks the strong town of Jaicza in Bosnia. But unfor- 
tunately the Turks were not his only enemy, and he was 
compelled to make war by turns against the King of Bo- 
hemia, the King of Poland, and the Emperor ; and al- 



248 General View of European History. ck. xi. 

though a king of very noble qualities and very successful 
in all his campaigns, it was perhaps a happiness for his 
country that he left no son to continue his line in the 
face of so many adversaries. The crown of Hungary 
was again united with that of Bohemia, and in the fol- 
lowing century both crowns came to the House of Aus- 
tria. 

15. The kingdom of Poland had long been exposed to 
attack from another set of infidels — the hordes inhabit- 
ing Lithuania. But in 1386, the Princess Hedwig hav- 
Poland. ^'^S succeeded to the crown, took for her 

husband Jagellon, Grand Duke of Lithu- 
ania, on condition that he would be baptized. This act 
was followed by the conversion of the Lithuanians gene- 
rally. Jagellon became King of Poland by the name of 
Ladislaus V., and the country was no longer exposed to 
pagan inroads ; but he and his successors had fierce 
wars with the Teutonic knights of Prussia. 

16. Germany had been for centuries under the rule 
of the emperors — successors of Charlemagne, who v/as 

The German Considered to have revived the old empire 
Empire. Qf Rome. Theoretically, the Emperor was 

in temporal matters what the Pope was in spiritual — the 
head of all western Europe, or rather of the world. But 
these proud pretensions had never been justified by facts 
since the days of Charlemagne himself. For a long time 
the empire had been united with the old kingdom of 
Germany, and the Emperor had been elected by a diet 
of German princes. He commonly received three crowns 
in succession — first a silver crown at Aix-la-Chapelle, 
which was the crown of Germany ; afterwards what is 
called the iron crown of Lombardy at Milan (it is of 
silver but has a circle of iron within it) ; and finally 
the golden crown of empire at Rome. This last crown 



Germany. 249 

was placed upon his head by the Pope, and until he 
received it he was not fully entitled to the name of 
emperor. Till then he was only called King of the 
Romans. For a long time the emperors had asserted 
their dominion over Italy, but now this was little more 
than a tradition. Even over Germany their rule was no 
longer what it had once been. The revenues attached 
to the imperial dignity were totally inadequate, and the 
electors were fain to offer it to foreign princes able to 
support the burden. The German princes cared little 
for their sovereign ; and the Emperor himself cared 
more for his own patrimony than for the interests of 
Germany. Wenceslaus, who was King of Bohemia as 
well as Emperor, seldom visited the rest of his domin- 
ions, and was deposed in 1400, the year after his brother- 
in-law Richard II. was deposed in England. Sigismund, 
the brother of Wenceslaus, was a more active ruler, but 
even he cared more for Hungary than for Germany. 
Still more indifferent to the affairs of the empire was 
Frederic III., who was elected Emperor in 1440, and 
who made it his principal aim to advance the interests 
of the House of Austria. He created the duchy of 
Austria into an archduchy, married his son Maximilian 
to Mary, the rich heiress of Burgundy, and got him 
elected King of the Romans during his own lifetime so 
as to ensure his succession to the empire after his death. 
The policy which he thus initiated was continued by 
Maximilian and his other descendants. The empire 
was preserved in the possession of the family, and the 
fortunes of the House of Austria were continually in- 
proved by politic marriages. But Germany became more 
and more disunited, each of her princes being virtually 
supreme in his own dominions. 



250 Conclusion, 



CHAPTER XII. 

CONCLUSION. 

I. The fifteenth century was not an age of really great 
men. Amid schisms in the Church, wars, rebellions, and 
disputed successions in every kingdom of 
teenthcen- Europc, it seems to have been impossible 
ag7of greJt for any mind to realize to itself one grand 
™^"" idea, to work out one great work, or to set 

forth one great thought. The best minds of the age 
looked back upon the past and regretted the chivalry 
that was passing away. Order was the one great need 
of the time, and as- yet men could see no order except 
of a kind already past recovery, which they were vainly 
endeavoring to restore. So for the peace of the Church 
they burned heretics and put witches to open penance, 
while, adhering to the traditions of a moribund chival- 
ry, they plunged Europe into war and anarchy. The 
one direction in which there was a visible movement 
Revival of ^^ mcn's minds was in a revival of ancient 
letters. learning. Scholars were recovering lost 

literature to the world, and the classic writers of ancient 
Rome were studied and imitated in a way they had not 
been before. Greek, too. began to engage more atten- 
tion in Europe after the fall of Constantinople ; for refu- 
gees carried the language and the literature into Italy 
and elsewhere. The art of printing, first used in Ger- 
many about the year 1440, and brought into England by 
Caxton in 1474, helped to multiply copies of the best 
ancient authors. 

2. In England, after the days of Gower and Chaucer 



Conclusion, 251 

we had very little literature that deserved the name. 
The principal poet of the succeeding age was 
John Lydgate, a monk of Bury, whose small 
lyric effusions, though not altogether contemptible, 
scarcely rank above mediocrity. It is remarkable, how- 
ever, that two foreign princes — Tames I. of . _ ^ 

James I. and 

Scotland and Charles Duke of Orleans — Charles, Duke 

■i r -y r j^-jof Orleans. 

each of whom was for many years detamed 

a prisoner in England, each contributed to his native 

literature poetry that was far from commonplace. 

3. In religion men testified what was going on beneath 
the surface rather by acts than by words. Men who felt 
more deeply than their neighbors some ^ ,. . 

. . Religion. 

neglected phase of Christianity drifted away 
from the authority of the Church. There were the 
Flagellants in Italy, the Lollards in England, the Huss- 
ites in Bohemia. But their zeal was found to be incom- 
patible even with civil peace, and they were met by a 
spirit of persecution, in which it is to be lamented that 
some of the noblest minds of the day concurred. Such 
was John Gerson at the Council of Con- 

1 t • ^ r r ^ GersOH. 

stance — the man who m defiance of danger 
tore to rags all the miserable special pleadings by which 
the creatures of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, 
sought to justify or extenuate the murder of his rival 
Orleans, — even he, so bold and upright in defence of 
public morals, took the lead in the persecution of Huss 
and Jerome of Prague. A quieter mind was that of Tho- 
mas a Kempis, to whom, as it is generally Thomas k 
believed, the world is indebted for the ex- ^™p^^- 
quisitely beautiful book, still so popular, upon the Imi- 
tation of Christ. Nothing can excel it as an exposition 
of that pure and peaceful devotion for which monasticism 
still offered a safe asylum amid <-he perverseness and 




EUROPE 

dui-ingtlie 

™ CENTURY 

The Countries left uncohred were inhabited 
hy Mahometam or other Iiifideh 
Lines draion acroas the Sea with arrow heads 
point to lands siibjai- to other Countries 



252 Conclusion, 

errors of the time. Outside the cloister zeal was sure to 
be persecuted, even if it endeavored to vindicate au- 
Reginaid thority. Such was the fate of Reginald 

Pecock. Pecock, Bishop of Chichester, a man not 

less remarkable for his vigor of intellect than for his love 
of toleration, who wrote a number of treatises in English 
in defence of the Church against the Lollards. His 
object was to win over heretics by reason instead of by 
the fires of persecution. His arguments generally are 
remarkably clear and lucid, tending to show that the 
Lollard position was founded upon an undue deference 
to the mere letter of Scripture, and that the Bible was 
not given us to supersede the use of our natural reason. 
But this mode of treatment satisfied no one. During 
the short lull in the civil war in 1457 — not long before 
the procession of the reconciled leaders to St. Paul's — 
Bishop Pecock was accused of heresy, forced to recant 
for fear of martyrdom, and deprived of his bishopric. 
The Church declined to be defended in the spirit of 
toleration. 

4. Thus whatever was noble was distressed and perse- 
cuted. Commerce and money-getting went on, and the 
Commerce Spirits of men, broken by invariable disap- 
aione goes pointment when they attempted anything 
rupted. higher, became generally sordid and merce- 

nary. Kings grasped at territory instead of money, but 
in England they soonest tired of the game, and even 
they, in the end, joined in the general pursuit of wealth 
in preference to honor or reputation. Ed- 
traffic in ward IV. first set the example of "traffick- 
^^'^' inginwar" which Lord Bacon notes as a 

feature of the pohcy of Henry VII. Both these kings 
raised great supplies from their own subjects, and then 
accepted money from the enemy to forbear fighting. 



Conclusion, 253 

5. But from the commercial enterprise of the day arose 
those discoveries which in the end, perhaps, had most 
influence in the formation of a new era. j^g^ ^jg. 
New coasts, new seas, new islands, and in coveries 

' ' ' lead to a 

the end a complete New World, were sue- new era. 
cessively revealed. The thoughts of men were expanded, 
their imaginations fired with new ideas. Old philoso- 
phies insensibly passed away as the ambition, the enter- 
prise, and the avarice of a new generation found channels 
which had been hitherto unknown. The world, even 
the material world, was found to be much larger than 
had been supposed. As for the world unseen, was it 
likely that popes and councils had taken the true mea- 
sure of that? 



INDEX. 



BAG 

ABERYSTWITH, castle of, 80 
Adamites in Bohemia, 127 
^neas Sylvius, 245 
Agincourt, battle of, 102-3 
Albania, 246 

Albany, Duke of, brother of Robert 
III. of Scotland, 72, 84, 107, 114, 

— Alexander, Duke of, brother of 
James III , 206 

Albemarle, Duke o£ (see Rutland, 

Edward, Earl of) 
Aleppo, 74 

Alexander V., Pooe, 86, 119 
Alnwick Castle, 176, 177 
Angora, battle of, 75 
Anjou, 147, 151 

— Louis, Duke of, 119 

Anne of Bohamia, queen of Richard 

II., 19, 38, 41 
Aquinas, Thomas, 65 
Aquitaine, 9 
Arc, Joan of (see Joan) 
Armagnac, Count of, 105, 106, 109 
Armagnacs, party of the, 89 
Arras, ppace conferences at, 142 
' — trea y of, 208 
Artevelde, James van, 20 

— PhiHp van, 20 

Arundel, Earl of. 32, 41, 42, 67 
Arundel, Thomas, Archbishop of 

Canterbury, 42, 46, 60, 82 
Astley, Sir John, 177 
Audley, Lord. 166 
Avignon, 7, n, ng 



BACON, Roger, 65 
Badby, Thomas, 87 
Bagdad, 75 



BOH 

Bagot, Sir William, 53 

Pajazet, the sultan, 73-5 

Balle, John, 14 

Bamborough Castle, 176 

Banaster, Ralph, 227 

Bar, Duke of, 97 

Barbason, governor of Melun, ii£ 

Bardclf, Lord, 80 

Barnet, battle of, 193 

Basle, council of, 127 

Bastille, the, at Paris, 109 

Bavaria, Lewis of, son of the Empe 
ror Rupert, 83 

— Ernest, Duke of, 97 

Bayonne, i, 159 

Beaufort family, 223-4 

Beaufort, Henry, Bishop of Winches- 
ter, afterwards Cardinal, 116, 131, 

1371 140-2, 144 
Beaufort, Lady Jane, 131 
Beaufort, Margaret, Countess of 

Richmond, daughter of the Duke 

of Somerset, 154, 222-4, 228 
Beauge, battle of, 114 
Beaugency, 115 
Bedford, John, Duke of, 105, 107, 116 ; 

Regent of France, 130-3, 136-40, 143 
Bedford, Duchess of, 178 
Benedict XIII. , Pope, 105, 118, 122 
Berwick, 176, 207 
Bible, the, translated by Wycliffe, 

62, 65 
Blackheath, 14, 72, 159 
Black Prince (see Edward) 
Blanche, daughter of Henry IV., 7 
Bl-nk charters issued by Richard 

IL. 51 
Bloreheath, battle of, 169 
Blount, Sir Jasper. 231 
Bohemia, 120, 125-8, 141 



256 



Index. 



CHA 

Bohun, Mary de, first wife of Henry 

IV., 83 
Bolingbroke, Roger, 145 
Boua of Savoy, 181 
Bondmen stir up rebellion, 12, 13 
Bordeaux, i, 2, 159 
Borough, Sir Thomas h,, 186 
Bosworth, battle of, 233-5 
Bourbon Duke of, 103 
Bourchier, Thomas, Archbishop of 

Canterbury, 164, 168 
Bracciolini, Poggio, 125 
Brackenbury, Sir Robert, 221 
Brambre, Sir Nicholas, 37 
Bretigni, treaty of, 98, iii 
Brittany, treaty of, 10, 131, 152 
Biichan, Earl of, 115 
Buckingham, Henry, Duke of, 210- 

212, 216, 221, 222-27 
Burgundian and Armagnac factions 

in France, 89 
Burgundy, Dukes of, 239-41 

— John the Fearless, Duke of, 89, 97 
99, 109, II 1-2 

— Philip, Duke of, 112-13, 116, 130, 

139) '^n^ 1^4 

— Charles, Duke of {see Charles the 
Bold) 

— the Bastard of, 184 
Burley, Sir Simon, 38 

Bury St. Edmund's, parliament at, 149 
Bury, prior of, 17 
Bushy, Sir John, 53-4 



CABOCHIANS in Paris, 96 
Cade, Jack, his rebellion, 155-57 

Calais, i, 2, 22, 33, 43, 54, 105, 143, 
159' 167, 176 

Calixtines, a Bohemian sect, 127 

Cambridge, Richard, Earl of, 99-100 

Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, 63 

Carlisle, besieged, 175 

Carlisle, Bishop of, 57-8 

Carmarthen Castle, 80 

Castillon, siege of, 161-2 

Castriot, George, 246 

Catherine, daughter of Charles VI. of 
France, 98, iii ; married to Henry 
v., 113 ; crowned, iii ; marries Sir 
Owen Tudor after Henry's death, 
172 

Cecily, daughter of Edward IV., 206 

Chalons, 137 

Charite, la, on the Loire, 116 

Charles V. of France, 2 

Charles VI., 21 ; prepares to invade 



DOU 

England, 27 ; his daughter married 
to Richard II., 41 ; he becomes in- 
sane, 88 ; his death, 130 

Charles VII., as dauphin, 106-7, ^o9" 
10, 130-4 ; crowned at Rheims, 137 ; 
as king, 148 

Charles VIII , 229 

Charles of Blois, 11 

Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; 
as Count of Charlois, 182-3 \ •^ 
Duke, 183, 190-2, 200-3 

Charlois, Counc of (s€.e v^harles) 

Chartres, 139 

ChaLtel, Tannegui du, 109-12 

Chaucer, Geof., poet, 63-4 

Cherbourg, 153 

Chester, 58 

Cheyney, Sir John, 235 

Chichester, Bishop of, confessor to 
Richard II., 35, 38 

Church, possessions of the, 7, 87 

Clarence, Duke of {see Lionel) 

Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, brother 
of Htnry V., 115 

Clarence, George, Duke of, brother 
of Edward IV., 175, 185, 187-92, 
203-5, 209 

Clarendon, Sir Roger, 76 

Clement VII., anti-pope, 11, 20, 118 

Clifford, Lord, 170, 174 

Cobham, Eleanor, Duchess of Glou- 
cester, 145 46 

Cobham, Lord {see Oldcastle) 

Conflans, treaty cf, 182 

Constance, Council of, 104, 118, 121-as 

Constantinople, 74 

Constantinople, Emperor of, 73 

Conway, 57 

Conyers, Sir Will., 185 

Coppini, the legate, 166 

CSsne, siege of, 116 

Coventry, parliament at, 166 

Crevant, siege of, 131 

Crowmer, sheriff of Kent, 156 



DAMASCUS, 74 
Dartford, 159 
Delhi, 74 

Derby, Henry, Earl of {see Henry) 
Dighton, John, 221 
Doncaster, 52 
Dorset, John Beaufort, Marquis of, 68 

— Thos Beaufort, Earl of, 104 ; {set 
also Exeter, Duke of) 

— Grey, Marquis of {see Grey) 
Douglas, Earl, 71, 78, 79, 107 



Index. 



257 



FLI 

Dreux, 115 

Dublin, 52 

— Marquis of {see Vere) 

Duns Scotus, 65 

Dunstanborough Castle, 176 

Durazzo, Charles of, 119 

Dymock, Sir Thos., 187 



ECORCHEURS, 143 
Edinburgh, 23, 72, 207 
Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lan- 
caster, 207 
Edward III., 1-4 
Edward IV., as Earl of March, 160, 

166, 171 ; declared king, 173 , his 

reign, 173-209 
Edward V., his birth, ig8 ; his reign, 

209-18; his murder, 221-22 
Edward the Black Prince, 2-4 
Edward, Prince of Wales, son of 

Henry VI., 162, 192, 195 
Edward, Prince of Wales, son of 

Richard III., 227 
Egypt, 74 
Elizabeth, Queen of Edward IV. 

{see Woodville) 
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., 

206, 207, 224, 228-9 
Ely, Bishop of {see Morton) 
Eric IX., King of Denmark, 83 
Euphrates, the river, 74 
Exeter, Duke of (John Holland), 56- 

7, 68 ; degraded to the rank of Earl 

of Huntingdon, 68; conspires 

against Henry IV., 69 
Exeter, Duke of (Thomas Beaufort, 

previously Earl Dorset), 107, 116 
Exeter, Duke of (Henry Holland), 

165, 197 
Exeter, Duchess of, sister of Edward 

IV., 227 
Eye, the Witch of, 145, 146 



FALCONBRIDGE, Lord, 174 
Falconbridge, the Bastard, 196 
Fastolf, Sir John, 132 
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 

220, 242 
Ferrybridge, battle of, 174 
Fitzhugh, Lord, 191 
Fitzwaicer, Lord, 69, 174 
Flanders, crusade of, the Bishop of 

Norwich in, 20-21 
Flanders, Count Louis II. of, 20 
Flint Castle, 57-8 



HEN 

Fogge, Sir John, 219 
Forest, Miles, 221 
Fougeres taken, 152 
Foul Raid, the, 107 
France, i, 27, 238-40 
France, Isle of, no 
Frederic III., Emperor, 202 



GASCONY, 2, 6, 157, 159 
Gaunt, John of {see John) 
Genoa, 244 
Georgia, 74 
Germany, 248 
Gerson, John, 251 

Glendower, Owen, rebellion of, 76-81 
Gloucester, Thomas, Duke of, son of 

Edward III., 24, 26, 29, 31-34, 38- 

42 ; his murder, 42 ; the judgment 

upon him reversed, 67 
Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, 

brother of Henry V., 115, 116, 129 ; 

protector of England, 130-1, 137, 

140-50 
Gloucester, Richard, Duke of (see 

Richard III,) 
Gloucester, Spenser, Earl of {see 

Spenser) 
Good Parliament, the, 3 
Gower, John poet, 63-7 
Granson, battle of, 202 
Gravelines, in Flanders, 22 
Gray, Sir Ralph, 177 
Green, John, 221 
Green, Sir Henry, 53 
Gregory XL, Pope, 11 
Gregory XII., Pope, 85, 104, 119, 122 
Grey of Ruthin, Lord, 77 
Grey, Lord Richard, 211, 215 
Grey, Sir John, 179 
Grey, Sir Thomas, 99 
Grey, Thomas, afterwards Marquis 

of Dorset, 119, 210, 236-37, 230 
Guienne and Gascony, 159 
Guienne, Louis, Duke of, dauphin, 97 



HALES, Sir Robert, 15 
Hammes Castle, 231 
Harfleur, siege of, 100 
Harlech Castle, in Wales, 176 
Hastings, 5 

Hastings, Lord, 176, 191, 209-10, 212-17 
Hedgeley Moor, battle of, 178 
Henry of Trastamara, 8, 9 
Henry, Earl of Derby, afterwards 
Henry IV., 32, 34, 38, 45; created 



258 



Index. 



JOH 

Duke of Hereford, 45, 46, 48 ; 
banished, 49 ; his return, 52-9 ; his 
reign as king, 67-90 

Henry V., his early life, 55 ; as 
Prince of Wales, 79, 87 ; his cha- 
racter, 90-2 ; his reign, 92-118 

Henry VI., b'rth of, 115; his reign, 
128-173 ; his acts after being de- 
posed, 173-178 ; restored, 192 ; 
again in Edward's power, 192, 194 ; 
his murder, 196 

Henry VII. {see Richmond, Henry, 
Earl of) 

Herbert, Lord, Earl of Pembroke, 185 

— Sir Richard, 186 

Herrings, battle of, 1^2 

Hexham, battle of, 178 

Holy Land, 72 

Homildon Hill, batde of, 78 

Horebites, a Bohemian sect, 127 

Hotspur (see Percy, Henry) 

Hungary, 246 

Hunniades, Johannes Corvinus, 246 

Huss, John, 104, 121, 123 

Hussites, the, 126-7, i4t 



TNDIA, 74 

JL Innocent VII., 85 

Ireland, Duke of {see Vere) 

Ireland, Richard II. goes to, 52 

Isabel of Bavaria, queen of Charles 

VI. of France, 88, 106, 109, in, 

112 
Isabella of France, second queen of 

Richard II., 41, 70 
Italy, 242-45 



TAGELLON, King of Poland, 125, 
J 248 

James I. of Scotland, when prince, is 
captured by the English, 84 ; with 
Henry V. in France, 115 ; liberated 
and returns to Scotland, 131 ; his 
poetry, 251 

James HI. of Scotland, 106 

Jargeau, capture of, 136 

Jerome of Prague, 124-25 

Joan of Arc, 134 

Joan of Navarre, queen of Henry 
IV., 83 ' ^ 

Joanna, Queen of Naples, 119 

John, King of England, 6 

John XXIII., Pope, 104, 119-20 

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 
2-4, 8-10, 12, 15, 23, 27, 43, 52 



MAN 

John, son of Chas, VI. of France, log 
Jourdemain, Margery, the Witch of 
Eye, 145, 146 

KEMP. Cardinal, 162 
Kempis, Thomas S,, 251 
Kent, the Fair Maid of, mother of 

Richard II., 15 
Kent, Earl oi{see Surrey, Duke of) 
Kidwelly, Morgan, 232 
Kilkenny, 52 
Knolles, Sir Robert, 17 

LACK-LEARNING Parliament, 
82 

Ladislaus, King of Naples and Hun- 
gary, 120 

Lancaster, John, Duke of i^see John 
of Gaunt) 

Lancaster, Henry, Duke of, 8 

Langland, Wm., a religious poet, 62 

Langley, 71 

Lauder, 207 

Lawyers, particularly hated, 14, 17 

League of the Public Weal, 182 

Leicester, parliament at, 155 ; coun- 
cil at, 163 

Liege, massacre of, 201 

Limoges, massacre of, 2 

Limousin, the, 6 

Lincoln, John de la Pole, Earl of, 228 

Lionel, Duke of Clarence, son of Ed- 
ward III., 8, 59 

Lithuania, 73 

Litster, John, 17, 18 

Llewelyn of Wales, 77 

Lombardy, 7 

London Bridge, 81 

London, Tower of {see Tower) 

Lorraine, 202 

Lose-coat Field, battle of, 187 

Louis, Duke of Anjou, King of Na- 
ples, 119 

Louis XL, King of France, 175, 181- 
92, 189, 197-201, 206, 207 

Low C untries {see Flanders) 

Ludlow, 166, 210 

Lutterworth, 124 

Lydgate, John, the poet, 251 

"]V /r AINE, in France, 210, 131, 147, 

Mamelukes, 74 

Man, Isle of, 44 

Mandeville, Sir John, the traveller, 67 

Mans, le, 151 



Index. 



259 



MOW 

Manuel Palaeologus, Emperor of 

Constantinople, 72 
Mar, Earl of, brother of James III. 

of Scotland, 206 
March, Roger Mortimer, Earl of, 52, 

59 

— Edmund Mortimer, Earl of, son 
of Roger, 59, 78, 80, 09 

— Edward, Earl of (see Edward IV.) 

— Tiie Scotch Earl of, 71 
Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry 

VI., 147-8, 162, 163, 170, 172-7, 
189, 194, 197 

Margaret, sister of Edward IV., 183- 
5. 203 

Martin V., Pooe, 109, 123 

Mary of Anjou, Queen of Charles 
VII., 147 

Mary of Burgundy, daughter of 
Charles the Bold, 202, 204, 208 

Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, son 
of the Emperor Frederick III., 202, 
2o8 

Meaux, on the Marne, 115 

Melun, 113 

Mercer, John, 10 

Meulan, iii 

Milan, 242 

Mile End, 15 

Milford Haven, 52, 56, 232 

Moleyns, Adam de. Bishop of Chi- 
chester, 153 

Molyneux, Constable of Chester, 34 

Montague, John Nevill, Lord, 175, 
178 ; made Earl of Northumber- 
land, 180; afterwards Marquis 
Montague, 190-2 

Montereau, iii, 113 

Montfort, John de, Duke of Brittany, 
II 

Montlhery, battle of, 182 

Morat, battle of, 202 

More, Sir Thomas, his History of 
Richard III., 213, 222, 230 

Morley, Lord, 68 

Mortimer, Roger, Earl of March {see 
March) 

Mortimer, Sir Edmund, 77-9 

Mortimer's Cross, battle of, 171 

Morton, John, Bishop of Ely, after- 
wards Cardinal, 212-14, 225-6 

Mountjoy, Lord, 180 

Mowbray, John, Earl Marshal, 80 

Mowbray, Thomas, Earl of Notting- 
ham and Earl Marshal, 32, 34, 41- 
43 ; created Duke of Norfolk, 45, 
46, 48 ; banished, 49 



PAU 

NANCY, battle of, 202 
Naples, rival kings of, 119,243 

Narbonne, 122 

Navarrete, battle of, 9 

Netter, Thomas, of Walden, 65 

Neuss, siege of, 199, 202 

Nevill, Alexander, Archbishop of 
York, 33, 35 

Nevill, Ann, second daughter of 
Warwick the King Maker, 189 

Nevill, Geoige, Archbishop of York, 
180 

Nevill, Isabel, eldest daughter of 
Warwick, the King Maker, 185, 204 

Nicopolis, battle of, 73 

Norfolk, John Mowbray, third Duke 
of, 162, 174 

Norfolk, John Howard, Duke of, 234 

Norfolk, Thomas, Duke of {see Mow- 
bray) 

Normandy, 107 

Northampton, battle of, 168 

Northampton, John of, 20 

Northumberland, 176 

Northumberland, Earl of, 53, 57-8, 
77-80 

Northumberland, Henry Percy re- 
stored to the earldom of, 190, 234 

Norwich, Spencer, Bishop of {see 
Spencer) 

Nottingham, council at, 31 

Nottingham, Thomas Mowbray, Earl 
of {see Mowbray) 



OLDCASTLE, Sir John, Lord 
Cobham, 93-6, 107-8 
Orleans, Louis, Duke of, murdered, 88 
— Charles, Duke of, son of the pre- 
ceding, 97, 103, 116, 144, 147, 251 
Orleans, siege of, 132-6 
Ormond, Earl of (.y^^ Wiltshire) 
Orphanites, a Bohemian sect, 127 
Orsini, Paolo, 86 
Oxford, 6 

Oxford, Earl of {see also Vere) 
Oxford, Earl of, 193, 231 



PAL^OLOGUS, Manuel, Empe. 
ror of Constantinople, 72 
Paris, 97, 109, 143 
Parliament, the Good, 3 

— the Wonderful, or Merciless, 36-9 

— of Shrewsbury, 45 

— the Lack -learning, 82 
Paul's Cross, 216 



•^bo 



Index. 



RIC 

Peasantry, condition of the, 13 

Pecock, Reginald, Bishop of Chiches- 
ter, 252 

Pembroke, 231 

Pembroke, Jasper Tudor, Earl of, 
171-2, 231 

Pembroke, Lord Herbert, Earl of, 185 

Percy, Henry, called Hotspur, son 
of the Earl of Northumberland, 
77-8 

Percy, Sir Ealph, 177 

Percy, Sir Thos., Earl of Worcester, 
(see Worcester) 

Percy, Sir Thos., 56 

Perrers, Alice, 2, 3 

Persia, 74 

Peter the Cruel of Castile, 9 

Philippa, daughter of Henry IV., 83 

Philipot, John, 5-10 

Picardy, no 

Piccolomini, -iEneas Sylvius, 245 

Piers Plowman, the Vision of, 62 

Pisa, Council of, 119 

Pius II., Pope, 245 

Pleshy, castle of, in Essex, 41 

Poggio Bracciolini, 125 

Poitiers, battle of, 2 

Poland, 247-8 

Pole, Michael de la, 24 {see also 
Suffolk, Earl of) 

Poll tax, 13 

Pomfret Castle, 69 

Pont de TArche taken, 152 

Popes, the,, 244-5 

Psrtugal, 242 

Prague, 125-6, 128 

Prague, Jerome of, 124 

Procopius the Shaven, 128 

Public Weal, league of the, 182 



RADCOTE BRIDGE, encounter 
at, 33 
Ravenspur, in Yorkshire, 53, 192 
Reading, parliament at, 162 
Religion, state of, 251-2 
Rene, Duke of Anjou and King of 

Naples, 147 
Rene II., Duke of Lorraine, 202 
Rheims, coronation of Charles VII. 

r. ^"^' ^37 

Rhuddlan Castle, 57 

Richard II., 3, 4, 38, 50, 51 ; his 
deposition, 59 ; his reign and charac- 
ter, 61-2 ; conspiracy in his favor, 
69 ; his death, 71 ; reported to be 
alive in Scotland, 76, 99, 107 



SHO 

Richard HI., as Duke of Gloucestet 

175, 191, 195-6, 203, 206-7, 209-78^ 

as king, 218-36 
Richmond, Edmund, Earl of, 172 
Richmond, Henry, Earl of, after« 

wards, Henry VII., 224-36 
Rickhill, William. 43 
Rivers, Lord (see Woodville) 
Roberc III. of Scotland, 71, 84 
Robin of Redesdale's insurrection, 185 
Roche, Count de la, 184 
Rome, 6, II 

Roosebeke, battle of, 21 
Rotherham, Archbishop of York, 212 
Rothesay, David, Duke of, 72, 84 
Rouen, 110, 114, 139, 152 
Roxburgh, 5, 107 
Russia, 74 
Rutland, Edmund, Earl of, son of 

Richard Duke of York, 166, 170 
Rutland, Edward, Earl of, 41 ; 

afterwards duke of Albemarle, 

55-6 ; degraded again to the 

earldom, 68; conspires against 

Henry IV., 69, 70 
Rye, burned by the French, 5 



ST. ALBAN'S, 17, S3, 59; first 
battle of, 164-5 '■> second battle 
of, 172 
St. Giles' Fields, meeting of Lollards 

at, 95 
St. John's Field, 173 
St. Leger, Sir Thos., 227 
Salisbury, John de Montacute, Earl 
of, 56-8, 68-9 

— Thomas de Montacute, Earl of, 

1 1 3-4 

— Richard Nevill, Earl of, 159, 163-5, 
171 

Savoy, palace of the, 8, 15 

Sawtr6, William, 87 

Say, Lord, 156 

Scales, Anthony, Lord {see WoodTille) 

Scales, Lord, 156 

Scanderbeg, 246 

Scarborough, 10 

Schism, the Great, 12 

Scotland, 23, 71, 206-7 

Scots, the, 5, 108 

Scotus, Duns, 65 

Scrope, or Scroop, Ric, Archbishop 

of York, 88 
Scrope of Masham, Lord, 99-100 
Shaw, Dr., 216 
Shore, Jane, 214-15, 226. 



Index. 



261 



TOW 

►.Shrewsbury, Earl of {see Talbot) 
Sigismund, King of Hungary, 73 ; 

afterwards King of the Romans and 

Emperor elect, 104, 126-7 '> ^-nd King 

of Bohemia, 128, 247 
Sivas, in Asia Minor, 74 
Sluys, fleet assembled at, 27 
Smithfield, 16, 146, 184 
Somerset, Edmund Beaufort, Duke, 

151-54, 158-59. 162-63 
— Henry Beaufort, Duke of, 165, 166, 

173, 176, 178, 194-yS 

Southampton, 99 

Spain, 241 

Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, 18 ; his 
crusade in Flanders, 21-25 

Spenser, Lord, Earl of Gloucester, 
68, 69 

Stafford, Humphrey, 227 

Stafford, Sir Humphrey and Wm'., 155 

Stamford, battle of Losecoat Field, 
near, 187 

Stanley, Lord, 214, 232-33 

Stanley, Sir William, 232-33 

Strange, Geo., Lord, 232-33 

Straw, Jack, 18 

Sudbury, Simon, Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, 15 

Suffolk, Earl of, 17 

Suffolk, Michael de la Pole, Earl of, 
24, 27-33 

Suffolk, William de la Pole, Earl of, 
afterwards Marquis and Duke of, 
132, 136, 147-51 

Surrey, Duke of, 56-8 ; degraded to 
the rank of Earl of Kent, 68 ; con- 
spires against Henry IV., 69 ; be- 
headed, 70 

Surrey, Thos. Howard, Earl of, 234 



TABORITES, a Bohemian sect, 
127 
Talbot, Lady Eleanor, 217 
Talbot, Lord, afterwards Earl of 

Shrewsbury, 136, 153, 161 
Tamerlane, or Timour, the Tartar, 

74-5 

Tannenberg, battle of, 126 

Tartary, 74 

Tewkesbury, battle of, 195 

Timour {see Tamerlane) 

Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester {see Wor- 
cester) 

Tower Hill, 16 34 

Tower of London, 15, 16, 36, 58, 216, 
221-22 



WIG 

Towton, battle of, 174 

Treason, laws of, mitigated by Henry 

IV., 68 
Tresilian, Sir Robert, 30, 35, 37 
Trollope, Andrew, 166 
Troyes, 137 
Troyes, Treaty of, 113 
Tudor, Sir Owen, 172 
Turks, the, 245-47 
Tyler, Wat, rebellion of, 12-18 
Tyrell, Sir Jas., 221 



T TRBAN VI., Pope, 12, ii8 



VAUGHAN, Thos., 226 
Venice, 244 
Vere, Robert de, Earl of Oxford, 
created Marquis of Dublin and 
Duke of Ireland, 25, 34, 37 
Verneuil, battle of, 131 
Villeneuve, on the Yonne, 115 
Vincennes, 115 



WAKEFIELD, battle of, 170 
Wal. s, 78, 79, 175 
Wales, Joan, Princess of, mother of 

Richard II., 15 
Wales, Princess of {see under Chris- 
tian names) 
Wales, women of, their barbarity, 77 
Walworth, Sir William, 5, 9, 16, 17 
Warwick, Richard Beauchamp, Earl 

of, 143 

Warwick, Thomas Beauchamp, Earl 
of, 32, 41, 42, 44. 67 

Warwick, Ricbard Nevill, Earl of, 
(the King-Maker), 159, 163-68, 172, 
174, 176, 179-81, 183, 185-94 

— his daughters, Isabel and Anne 
[see Neviil) 

Waterford, 52, 56 

Waynflete, William, Bishop of Win- 
chester, 159, 220 

Welles, Lord, 186, 187 

Welles, Sir Rob., insurrection of, 186, 
187 

Wenceslaus VI. of Bohemia, 19, 
125-26 

Wenlock, Lord, 188 

Westminster, abbot of, 73 

Westmoreland, Earl of, 53, 80 

Wight, Isle of, 5 



262 



Index, 



WYC 

Wiltshire and Ormond, Jas. Butler, 

Earl of, 1 71-2 
Wiltshire, Scrope, Earl of, 53-4 
Winchelsea, 5 
Windsor Castle, 80 
Woodville, Anthony, Lord Scales, 180, 

184 ; becomes Earl Kivers, 188, 191, 

209-11 
Woodville, Elizab., queen of Edward 

IV., 178, 197, 210, 212, 214-15, 217 
Woodville, Richard, Earl Rivers, 

178-9, 185-6 
Worcester, John Tiptoft, Earl of, 

180, 188, 192 
Worcester, Thos. Percy, Earl of, 78-9 
Wraw, John, 17, 18 
Wycliffe, John, 5-7, 14 ; his Bible, 62, 

65 
.— his doctrines popular in Bohe- 
mia. 131 



ZIS 

Wykeham, William, Bishop of Win- 
chester, 3, 39 



YORK, 174, 211 
York, Alex. Nevill, Archbishop 
of, 32, 35, 46 

York, Richard, Duke of, son of the 
Earl of Cambridge, 143-4, 151,157- 
60, 162-70 

York, Edmund, Duke of, son of Ed- 
ward III., 24, 55 

York, Richard, Duke of, son of Ed- 
ward IV., 215, 220-21 

Yorkshire, rebellion in, 81-2 



'ISKA, John, Bohemian leader 
f 125-27 



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